Morphers
by Jekkal
Summary: The Crown Jewel Series of AniZone. Four new Andalites, whole lot of surprises...
1. The Battle

**Chapter 1 **

Prepare for return to normal space, Captain Nerefir said in thought-speak. 

I, Raeolin-Ashul-Tallien, was on the battle bridge with the other full warriors, the princes, the captain, my freinds, and the one aristh on the dome ship _Galaxy Tree_, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. Personally, I was not one to care so much about him. Any _aristh_, even one who's Elfangor-Sirinal-Shamtul's brother, doesn't mean much. Except for the fact he ran into the Captain so hard once, he ended up bruising one of his eye stalks. I realize it was an accident on his part, but still, it's not the best idea to go around doing that. 

I was working at the sensor station. To my left was Tashe-Kelane-Farleen. My _shorm_ during the entire war. A warrior, same as I was. We were waiting for any signals, when we heard something slightly interesting.

Is that Earth? It was Aximili. I didn't realize there was so much water. Can you get old Hoof and Tail to let me go down there with you? I took a quick look at him with one stalk eye. That is not how you call the captain when he's listening! 

Aximili, shut up! yelled Elfangor. I snickered silently to myself.

_At least he's getting what he deserves. _I signaled to Tashe. Many of the warriors chatted amid themselves at the battle bridge, but they use hand signals to avoid the jumbling of thought speak. 

_What_ do_ you expect from that aristh?_ he replied. He did have a point. Although I did feel some pity to Aximili. For the trouble he was going to get into.

Old Hoof and Tail, eh? spoke the Captain. Is that what they call me?

_Not all of us._, I signaled back to Tashe. Both of my stalk eyes we now on the conversation. 

I'm sure this _aristh_ didn't mean any disrepect.said Elfangor. That got a smile out of the both of us. 

Ah, It's the ruffian. the wild brat that knocked me over. Old Hoof and Tail , is it? I kind of like the name. The captain winked one eye at Elfangor. I suppose we'll have to let the ruffian live. That got another smile out of the both of us. 

My spirits sank almost immediatly after. Yeerks! We have a Yeerk mother ship in orbit over the planet! I cried. 

There're launching fighters! I count twelve Yeerk Bug fighters,exclaimed Tashe, They're on an intercept course. They'll be in firing range in twelve earth minutes. 

Nerefir signaled in Elfangor's direction. He quickly turned to me. You two. Go out there with Elfangor. 

Chapter 2

I am Raeolin- Ashul- Tallien. 

I suppose part of the story I tell will be known by other Andalites. I mean, this is an invasion that will go down in pure infamy. But the whole truth will not be told. I suppose that's a good thing. 

I probably should explain. We Andalites are locked in a deadly war against the Yeerk empire. Yeerks are a parasidic speicies that lives within other species. They have complete control of their host's mind. Complete and utter control. They can live their host's life flawlessly, and entice others to defect. To become controllers. That's what you call an infested host. 

Yet there is one weakness. Every three Earth days, the Yeerk must leave its host in order to feed on Kandrona rays sent by a Kandrona wave/particle generator. 

We Andalites stand alone in this war and are being spread thin by the Yeerks. but we have two strengths that allow us to survive this war. One is the fact we are more technologically advanced than the Yeerks. The second is a power to slip through planets and Yeerk posts unnoticed.

The power to morph. The power to become any animal we touch and acquire. I never have personally had to do this in my services, but we are morph-capable. 

I had... well, I stilll have some freinds on the dome ship _Galaxy Tree._ There is Tashe, whom I already told about. Casten-Tellon- Harelin, one of my other teammates, and Jekkal- Corlen- Fahlo, one of the new integrated female officers. I have affections for her, but I never have revealed it. In obvious fashions, anyway.

The people have just allowed for more females to recruit into the army. At the amounts of soldiers needed, it became the only logical solution. 

But that was not the most important item in my mind. 

We ran down ot the dropshafts where a phalanx of warriors were streaming down the dropshafts to the fighter bays. We quickly found our model thirty-four and entered. 

Raeolin, take the helm. Tashe told me.

I quickly loaded myself into the cockpit and within a few minutes, we had left the dome ship. 

The raged around us. Andalite shredders burned Bug fighters. Dracon beams hit Andalite fighters. It was is if a laser hologram had a virus so that it did not make any three-dimensional symbols. 

We were directly over the planet between it and its moon's orbit. A that point it looked as if we may win this battle and stop the invasion of Earth. Until I spotted its silhouette against the moon. 

A blade ship.

Chapter 3

A visser's blade ship!

It was the turning point in the battle. The ship looked like a twisted battle-ax with a triangular point on the end of the shaft.That was the battle bridge. The ship was fast and manuverable. Too fast! 

A dracon beam glanced off the left engine. That was close!Tashe said. 

Elfangor, come in! We need help! Quickly!

I can't, he cried, I'm hurt too badly. Go down to the planet. You are ... of no use ... here. 

We won't leave you. I responded, out of pure desperation. 

Go!

I turned the engines toward the planet. I glanced out and saw the dome ship break apart . It needed to be able to fight. That was my hope. If the dome ship ....

I saw the beam from the blade ship. 

No! I heard the silent cry from one of the other fighters. I never learned who it was. It did not matter. 

The ship was blown apart. A hundered Andalites destroyed in one blast. That was not why I did the next move. Not out of bravery, not out of insanity, but out of total fear. 

I bounded for the planet below. 

Five bug fighters trailed us down into the atmosphere. The dracon beams came closer with every try.

We are not going to make it!

We have to-

By the time I said try we were no longer in earth's orbit. We were not even within the Andalite fighter. We were on our sides in what appeared to be complete green. You could not tell the ground from the air. 

Wha? Where? It was probably not the most brillant comment. But I was confused.

**'Who' is probably a better question. **

The sound caught me off guard. It seemed deeper than thought speak, yet similar. Fine. Who, then?

**An Ellimist.**

An Ellimist! But it should have beeen impossible. They only existed in the fairy tales of Andalite children. The green clumped together and reformed itself to an old Andalite body, but the greenish light still lingered. We quickly jumped to our hooves.

Tashe spoke. Why are we here? Did we...

**No. You see, your ship was hit and destroyed, but I was able to pull you from the fighter a few moments before the blast. It was necessary.**

Necessary to do what?

**To save Earth.**

**Chapter 4**

I see. So you would put us on earth in order to stop the Yeerk advances?

**Yes. But five Earth months after the battle.**

Five months? Would not the Yeerks already have a substantial amount of humans?

**To a degree, yes. But there has been a resistance that has slowed down the Yeerks . A band of four humans, an _aristh_, and one hawk. **

An _aristh_? I said. How could he have made it?

Aximili? But we saw the dome ship...

**The dome was not destroyed. Aximili survives. **

Would you tell us more about this group?

**Prince Elfangor broke Andalite law to give five humans the power to morph. One of them was trapped as a hawk. Later they found Axilmili, who has given benificial knowledge to the group. After that I gave the one trapped as a hawk his morphing powers back to save a couple of Hork-Bajir. The Yeerk forces belive this group to be a band of Andalite warriors. Now I will make that true.**

But how?

**When I saved you I also saved Casten and Jekkal. They have already been told of their mission.**

Almost at that very instant they appeared over the hillside. Jekkal? Casten?

**All of you know of what is to be accomplished. I will send you down and hope you can hold down the Yeerks before backup arrives.**

Instantly I found a forest around us. We had been deposited near where a bird of prey was resting.

**That one is Tobias. It is probably best you contact him first instead of Aximili. Since Visser Three killed Elfangor, he may think that you are him. Remember, there are only two Andalites in this section of space. You may be mistaken for either one of them.**

I nodded my head and prepared for contact. Tobias?

What, Ax-ma...YIKES! He was about to fly off. 

Tobias, Do not be afraid. We are not who you think we are. Jekkal spoke.

Okay. I can tell now. Just one question. Who are you?

I am Raeolin-Ashul-Tallien.This is my _shorm_, Tashe-Kelane-Farleen, Casten-Tellon-Harelin, and Jekkal-Corlen-Fahlo. We were sent down by an Ellimist to help you.

Why?

We are not sure. We just know we were sent to help. Casten said. 

Okay. Let me get the Ax-man and bring him over here.

A half hour later a new Andalite showed up in the small clearing. His eyes seemed to grow wide in surprise, darting to Tashe, then me, then Jekkal, and finally Casten.

Let's demorph. 

**Chapter 5**

The humans, obviously. I was surprized to hear that. Demorph from what? I did not see any other animals besides Tobias and Aximili. Until I saw specks too small to be noticed become too large to ignore.

I noticed four humans emerging from the shapes. Once I had a decent view of them, I noticed two different types of humans emerging. The first type appeared very dark and had short, black hair, while the other was light and had shoulder-length, yellowish hair. The second type was also light, but with brownish hair . The last one looked slightly darker, although not by much, and had short hair, but not as short as the first one. He also looked shorter than the others. 

You probably know who we are by now. Who are you? questioned Tashe.

"I'm Jake. To my right is Marco, on my left is Rachel, and behind me is Cassie."

Fascinating, exclamied Jekkal, that such a group manages to fight the Yeerks and survive for this long.

"Yeah, we end up surprising ourselselves." exclaimed Rachel.

"Jake, this isn't good. HIding Ax was somewhat easy, but five?" spoke Marco, "We can't hide five Andalites in this forest and expect none of the Yeerks to find out."

"'Course we can. Tobias can keep track of them and make sure no one sees, and we can give them morphs so they aren't Andalites all the time." said Cassie. 

Yes, that would work. I said.

"Come on. You're going to need human morphs, so you may as well get them now." exclaimed Rachel

I extended my hands out to the two females. Jekkal acquired the two males. Casten acquired Jake and Rachel, and Tashe acquired Cassie and Marco.

When can we try these morphs?

"Ax'll tell us when you've tried it and we'll have Tobias drop off the morphing suits." told Jake .

Morphing suits?

"Clothing. " he explained.

Clothing?

Most humans belive that certain areas of the body are unacceptable in public. They cover it with clothing and artificial hooves called shoes. Aximili explained into further detail.

Ah.

Later that day we tried out the new morphs. in keeping with what Aximili said about clothing, it was somewhat humiliating at the sight of it. It turned out that Casten, Tashe, and I acquired female morphs, while Jekkal had a male morph. After Tobias has delivered the morphing suits, Aximili helped us with putting them on. It was confusing. Shirts go on the upper body, and not on the feet , for example.

Near sunset, when I was back in my Andalite form, I peered out into the colored sky and contemplated. I knew up there a mother ship and a blade ship existed, and up there loomed an abomination and a threat to all free species. but now all I could do was stay down on this planet and plan to destroy it.

**Chapter 6**

The next day I used my human morph again to gain access into the barn without detection. I did have troubles with my new morph. For one thing, trying to walk on two legs without a tail to stand is very difficult. Another thing is that they also have no natural defenses. 

The barn is where humans keep other animals besides humans. I noticed many animals that I had seen roaming through the forest, and a few I did not. 

"Guys, we're going to get you new morphs and help you get used to your human ones." explained Cassie.

"How? Hao-wah?" Tashe remarked.

"It's starting already," sighed Jake,"We have to teach you not to play with every sound, and to control you when you eat in this morph."

"Why? Eye. Wuh-eye?"

"We all saw what happened with Ax the first time. We don't need a repeat." stated Marco. 

"What Happened? Hap-pind?"

"He basically went crazy and acted like a ravin' lunatic."

"Ah." I said, not completely understanding. Rachel came in with a bag of something that smelled sweet. "What is that smell? Suh-mell."

"Brace yourselves. Rachel brought the cinnamon buns.," said Marco. He indicated brown, round objects covered with a white goo. "Dig in."

"Are they good?"

Relax. They taste wonderful. stated Aximili, now demorphed. 

I bit into the piece given to me. Oh, how can I explain it ? My mouth savored the goo and the cinnamon. It enjoyed the warm, golden bun. "Thith ith fantathik!" I tried to say ,but I meant to say 'This is fantastic!'. 

I told you so.

The rest of the day went along similarly, with learning not to stutter over our own words, trying to control our emotions when eating, and acquiring new morphs, including ones such as the seagull, the fly, a skunk, another bird called a merlin, and a female wolf.

Your planet has some very amazing animals. Jekkal stated.

"Yes, but I think you may need a few more morphs, ones you can't acquire here." Cassie announced.

Where? This area already has a stunning array.

"Cassie's right. We need to take all of you down to The Gardens and acquire stronger morphs, ones... definitely not from this area." stated Jake. 

Such as?

"Lions, tigers, lepoards, polar bears, gorillas, crocodiles, anacondas, rhinosceros.. you name it."

We are going to acquire all of _those_? I asked in amzement.

"No, just a few." he added.

We left the barn, puzzled at what these animals might be.

**Chapter 7**

In the morning we headed out to The Gardens, as the humans refered to it, in seagull morph. The seagull is a bird reaching two-and-a-half feet to three feet in wing span. It is a small white bird with webbed feet and a beak that curves slightly on the end. It also is a scavenger that thrives on human garbage. I noticed that quickly.

Look! There's cheez puffs! exclaimed Jake.

Behind the KFC! Half a wing! Extra crispy! shouted Marco

Isn't that cannibalism?

C'mon, Cassie, I love extra crispy!

I do not understand. stated Casten, as confused as we were.

You wouldn't.

Rachel, be quiet. We have four Andalites, probably scared outta their minds, flung deeper into this war then they were trained for, and you have to go badmouth 'em. At least let them enjoy the flight. Probably their first time, too.

No, I explained, Some _arisths_, before being assigned to dome ships, will morph _kafit_ birds for fun. I went on a flight with Tashe once.

You were not the only ones in this group. I went too. Jekkal added. 

_Kafit_ birds? Like that one the visser morphed?

The abomination? HERE?!Casten replied, I knew there was one visser, But I never...

Too bad.

We landed in The Gardens a few minutes later. It was uninhabited, and dimly lit in the area we landed. There were metal structures, poorly constructed, some almost reaching two hundred feet in the air. 

The amusment area. This is not where we need to be. Cassie spoke. We flew over an artificial swamp, and to an open skylight that led in towards a series of numbered doors. where we demorphed. 

"We'll have to be careful. There shouldn't be too many people in here, but if they get a good look at our boys, they'll know."

Four boys and a girl. corrected Jekkal.

"This is Serena's den," explained Cassie as she opened one of the doors, "She's had a litter, so she's been sedated heavily, and seperated from the others. I'd say it'd be easy, but watch out." I was directed to the reclining beast and her lounging cubs. It awoke. She glared at me with large, glowing eyes. 

I will not hurt you. I extended my tail out so she could easily see it as I touched one hand on her forehead. She closed her eyes and lolled back to sleep as I acquired her. 

"What's next, Cassie?" inquired Marco.

"I'd say down to the reptile section," stated Cassie as she shut the door of the mother's den, "Jake mentioned anacondas."

Jekkal had acquired the anaconda, Tashe had acquired a polar bear, but Casten had no morph yet.

**Chapter 8**

"Back here are the Florida panthers. They shouldn't be too much trouble." said Cassie as she opened up the last door . Casten entered gingerly into the algae-covered waters, looking for anything that might have reselmbled the feline. It was noticed. Very suddenly, in fact. 

"Cas! behind you!" exclaimed Jake.

He flicked his tail and knocked him unconcious. Jake, I cannot be tricked so easily off guard. he pressed his tail blade down on the panther's nape as he acqiured it.

We headed home quickly into the forest where we demorphed. I had found Jekkal as she tried out some of the new morphs, including the ones she acquired yesterday. Jekkal is an _estreen_, and also is Cassie. An _estreen_ is a morpher who has an artistic ability to it. Cassie, however, does not practice her morphing as Jekkal does. She uses some morphs from the home world, such as a _kafit_ bird and a _flaar_, but not many. For Jekkal, she tends to think of morphing not as something she has to do, but something she wants to do. 

She was begining to do her anaconda morph when I walked by. The scales started at her tail blade, mowing down the fur and replacing it as quickly as the eye could follow. Her coloring was no longer a light blue and tan, but an iridescent black. her stalk eyes dove into her head. Her upper body thinned to accomodate her new snake body. When she turned to look at me, her eyes began to glow with thin slits for pupils. The Andalite limbs were pushed into the body as it grew to its full length. A gash tore across her face lined with the small jagged teeth of the anaconda. She was now complete.

Hello, Raeolin.

Hello, Jekkal. I was wondering.

About what?

Well... I have been wanting to say this for a long time, but...I was going to say this after the war, but I - 

Ahhhhh!

Tashe! we quickly bounded over to where the thought had been coming from.

Tashe what is..... What is that smell?

"Aww man! Tashe...you didn't." moaned Cassie, obviously as repulsed by the smell as we were. The humans had come over too.

I don't understand. I saw the creature I acquired yesterday, I went up to it, and then...

"You got skunked." said Marco, summing up the ordeal. 

"Tashe, take a break for about a week. That 's how long it'll take to get rid of the smell. Rae, Jekkal, Cas, you guys can come with us." spoke Jake.


	2. The Virus

Chapter 1

My name is Tobias.

I live in a territory, with a hundred miles of meadow this way, two hundred that, and a patch of national forest that backs up to the mountains. Terriotries of five Andalites, one wolf pack, and other countless animals. But no red-tail hawks.

Besides me.

I was up on a favorite perch of mine, a sturdy branch within a dying elm tree. It was a little past sunrise, and I needed breakfast. A sweet, plump mouse in the meadow, just poking out of its hole, was about to chew on a seed. 

Good enough.

I opened my wings,and fell on a current that allowed me to glide over. The mouse caught sight, and tried to run. 

Too slow.

I raked my talons forward, and another breakfast is earned. 

After I ate, I flew over the forest . scanning for an old friend and four new ones. We had just found out the Ellimist sent four Andalites from the battle to Earth to help us. 

Leave it to him to pull that one. 

I found them. They almost looked like a herd of blue deer. Until you get closer and see the centaur body. And that tail. And the face. It looks normal, except for the fact there's no mouth, and the flexible stalk eyes on the top of the head. I landed in a nearby branch. There was Ax, Rae, Jekkal, Tashe, and Casten. Jekkal has the talent for morphing, just like Cassie. 

Hey, Ax-man. How are the others?

They are getting along nicely. Had breakfast?

Yep. See you later.

I flew off into the meadow. I was hoping to catch Cassie on the way to the barn. Her dad runs the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Takes care of the forest animals. Most would make a nice meal, But I don't eat her patients.

Her mom also works at the Gardens, which is a zoo/amusment park, so she gets to visit inside there too. I guess that's why she likes animals so much. Be hard for her not to. 

Normally she wouldn't be out here. But the teachers were grading report cards, so the kids get a day off. 

Hi Cassie. You busy today? I thought we could-

"Tobias, bring the others out. Jake's calling a meeting. Says it's something big."

I gulped. Jake had been too worked to exaggerate.

Something big meant something big.

And that meant something bad.

Chapter 2

"Tom's been making calls about some disease that Hork-Bajir and Taxxons have been getting. "

That would be Jake. The unofficial leader of the Animorphs. Jake looks solid, the kind of boy I'd trust anyday. But this war's changed him. Frazzled him. Too many life-and-death decisions.

"As well as some humans. Even Visser Three is making AIDS look like a cold. They've been trying to keep the Yeerk pool sanitary to stop the spread on Earth. But I doubt it's been working. A few cases are cropping up. "

In other words,a Yeerk hanta virus. I summed.

"Exactly."

"So what's the problem? Shouldn't that wipe out the Yeerks?" responded Marco.

What is a hanta virus?

"Jekkal, it means a deadly virus outbreak. With no cure. "

Ah.

"Anyway, the problem is any controller could be a carrier. If one of us gets infected, we're liable to end up with the whole group dead or near dead."

"Yikes."

BIG yikes. he left out anyone who gets near a controller as a carrier, too. Are there any warning signs? I asked. 

"From what I understood, the human version isn't deadly so far, but it shows no signs for a few days after contact, then pustules show up all over your body. Along with a serious flu."

"Ouch."

"It hasn't become an epidemic yet here, but it could."

No medicines? Treatments? Vaccines?

"Doesn't look like it."

How does it spread?

Is it airborne?

What are the Visser's symptoms?The questions fired away like raindrops.

"I don't know. But try not to end up infecte-"

"Jake, your hand." cried Cassie. I looked down on it. I noticed a red, round bump the size of a quarter. Bloodred. 

"You idiot! are you trying to get us sick too?" yelled Marco , pulling his shirt over his head.

"No!" He cried in sheer disbelief.

A few minutes after, Cassie told her parents and they sent him over to the hospital, after calling his parents. He ended up quarintined and in the same wing with the other cases. We all went our seperate directions after the meeting, but I wondered if it would be enough to stop it. 

Before it's too late. 

**Chapter 3**

That next day we had to check on how Jake was doing. I just relaxed on a nearby tree, peering into the room every so often. Luckily, Jake's room was on the second story. His case was turning worse. The pustules were beginning to sprout all over him, except the face. He was hooked up to every machine you could think of, with vital signs and whatever else they wanted to watch. He basically slept the whole time, and I couldn't blame him. Not that much was happening, except there were doctors every hour or so, checking on him. There were also seagulls flying onto the windowsill. 

My friends. 

Can I just say 'yuck'? joked Marco. 

The've started looking for a cure and quarintine the victims. Five new cases were reported this morning. Cassie announced.

They closed schools, too?

How'd you know?

Think for once, Marco.I snapped back. A new seagull came over, panic stricken.

Cassie! You need to get back! yelled Tashe.

Why?

Aximili is having callouses and puffed eyes. We think it could be the virus.

Impossible! There's no way!Unless....

Oh my... We all flew off. How could this have happened? First Jake, now Ax. Who next? 

Cassie headed back to the barn to get supplies. The rest of us headed over to where the Andalites normally are. Only to find terror.

Ax was on his side, with sores covering his hooves completely. his eyes were crudded, bleeding a greenish-yellow liquid. His stalk eyes had gone limp, and went from the eyes being walnut-sized, to tennis-ball-sized. Help me. I am blind. I cannot walk. I need assistance.

Why didn't you guys help him?blared Rachel,How could you leave him like this?

As I said, we thought it was the virus. We had nothing to protect us for treatment. But I saw that the barn contained medical supplies. It was locked, and I thought Cassie might know how to unlock it.

Caasie showed up with the supplies, and handed out gloves and surgery masks. 

Everyone was human or in human morph while Cassie nursed wounds in order to get a closer look at Ax. Or at least tried to.

Something is wrong. I cannot seem to morph.stated Rae. A faint ring of the green crud showed up around his eyes. Same story with Casten. 

"You caught it too?" moaned Cassie.

I know what the virus is!

Tashe, we all know.

No, Tobias, I mean I know what the virus is, how it acts, and how to cure it.

**Chapter 4**

You KNOW?

Yes. It is an Andalite disease called The Esscate Virus. It is inherited through the blood stream until an allergy is accquired. Then it transmits airborne and through phisical contact. Every victim reacts differently to the virus, from highly fatal to tolerent. In most cases, it nullifies morphing. 

What about a cure?

The tolerent cases are Andalites with antibodies in the blood stream. It is very difficult to make artificial vaccinations, so only high-ranking soldiers receive them without immediate need. But tolerent Andalites are rare. explained Tashe. I would have mentioned it before, but it seemed unlikely that other species would get infected. Chances are Visser Three infected the Yeerk forces.

"Great. We've all had some contact with the virus already, so none of us can morph. I mean look, I'm showing signs!" Marco whined, lifting up a small part of his bike shorts to show a pustule.

It does not last long airborne, just a few feet from the host. Raeolin and Casten must have had it transmitted overnight from Aximili, and you humans were in close proximity at the meeting. Jekkal and I have been fortunate not catching the virus. 

"I suppose that means I'll be bringing Tobias his mice. Not like he'll be able to catch them with that virus." moaned Cassie.

Actually, I've been doing quite fine. I'm still every bit of a hawk that I am. I responded, almost insulted at the thought.

That's it! Tobias's hawk body has the antibodies for a serum! Jekkal announced, However, I will need better medical supplies than Cassie has in order to make it. 

"You'll have to do it alone if you need them that badly,"Rachel spoke, "If we try to go with you and end up getting nullified morphing then, well..."

Agreed. There is too much risk involved for you humans. Tobias, Jekkal, and I will go to find the supplies and make a serum. 

We flew over, Jekkal and Tashe carring supplies, and found the Disease Testing Center, not much more than three miles away from the city. It was one of those old colonial towns renovated into a research lab. It even had those old fashioned stocks.

Some of those scientists are probably controllers, no doubt, to find a cure for the virus. I stated.

True. Jekkal, I know you've been trained as a doctor, so enter, find the supplies to make a serum, and bring it back. We will deal with the situation from there. 

She demorphed and entered through a back window, in Andalite form. If this is a Yeerk facility, I want to be able to quickly morph and escape.

Good luck, Jekkal. I watched through the window of the building to check on her. I was too far away to hear, but I could see everything. She had found the right lab, and she was about to get the I.V. cords when I noticed two doctors about to come in.

Jekkal! Morph!

Then I noticed the Hork-Bajir. 

**Chapter 5**

Hork-Bajir? Now? I got a good view of what the virus had done. The blades had been dulled to stumps. The skin was no longer reptilian, but a bright yellow. It seemed too gaudy in the dusk and moonlit sky. They no longer held more of a threat than the doctors. Although they still were stronger. 

The door opened. I couldn't hear the conversation although I caught a glimpse of a needle, and of the dracon beams. Her tail was of no use in the cramped quarters. She kept the thought speak away. I flew around towards the front of the building, where I caught a glimpse of them pulling her out of the building and of _him_.

Visser Three. His case was different than Ax's. Bare patches of skin covered the body. One of the main eyes had a patch over it. 

I could guess why.

Well, well,well, Jekkal. How you've been a thorn in my side. No matter. It's obvious you haven't been infected, which I find quite impossible. You must have found a serum. as he taunted, his good main eye was staring in sheer amusement. Not that you saw it often.

No. she moaned, turning her face away. 

Very well, then. Call your fellow bandits. Tell them I will have it in one earth hour or you are infested. he motioned his tail blade over to her face and whipped it around so she stared at him again.Then he pulled it away and knocked her unconscious with the next blow. Her semi-limp body was placed into the stocks, her head and hands where they were supposed to be, her tail placed in the handhole of the one behind it. Her knees gave way so the body could fit inside. You two. If she tries to morph,.... He let it waver. 

I flew out into the night air. Not very good, considering the fact there are absolutely no thermals and I can't see very well in the dark. But I had to. I needed Tashe's advice on the situation. I saw a hispanic-looking teenage girl seeming very confused. 

Tashe! She quickly demorphed.

Tobias. I heard what he said.

Any ideas?

No. I am looking for some thing we might be able to pass of as a serum so they will-

It's not gonna work. Jekkal has a slug with her name on it. They might infest her anyway. 

Then what do you suggest?

This is too far for an enterance to the Yeerk pool. So the slug would have to be already somewhere on this site.

What are you suggesting? he said with extra cause.

The unthinkable. The most disgusting thing I can think of and will probably hate myself in the morning for. I said grimly.

What?

Morph that Yeerk.

Chapter 6

Tobias, The situation is not _that_ bad. Tashe pleaded.

It is. They want the serum or her. We don't have a serum. They might do it anyway. I'd say it_ is_ that bad. I retorted. We were looking around the buildings to where we might find the Yeerk. 

First time for everything, I suppose. Also first time we couldn't find one. Then I saw the sluggish figure. Is that it? I asked.

Yes. They do sometimes transport Yeerks in those boxes when they cannot unload into a Yeerk pool. But how are you going to get away with it? This building is probably guarded.

Outside, maybe. But I don't see anyone inside. I landed inside that room, right next to the clear box. Inside was the filthy slug. I opened the lid with my beak and stuck a foot in there. I grabbed it as tighly as I could and acquired it. Then I pushed it towards the window sill and unloaded the Yeerk out into the cool night air. From there I moved it back to where it was, crawled inside, let the box shut on me, and morphed.

The first change was my skin. It went from brown and beige feathers to a sickly grey-green slime. My bones dissolved, and I slipped into the bottom of the box. My eyes stopped working. I was blind. Every other sense in my body was alive and tingling with information, But I couldn't see at all. Tashe, How much time?

Fifteen minutes until infestation.

Okay, I want you to be in merlin morph, flying, until I need you. 

Yes, Tobias.

I waited patiently for the period to pass for two reasons. One, being a Yeerk was disgusting enough, so I wasn't anxious to infest, and two, my Yeerk brain wasn't interested in the area around me. I mean, it said stuff, like _there's a corner_, but there was nothing that interested me. 

Tobias, the Visser is heading into the room.

That woke me wide alert. I noticed vibration in my little utopia and a despairing voice. 

No.No. NO! Let me go!

There a slurping sound as gravity forced me out of my box and into two soft hands. I noticed as they pushed me into a new source. Curved, soft, warm.

No. the voice cried for one last time. I pushed myself into that ear, emitting a chemical on instinct to numb the pain. I touched the brain, and I had a tail. I went further, I had two arms. Deeper, I could see again.

I took no point in scanning the memory. I wasn't going to try and jump into this. Go ahead, Yeerk. I can't stop you. snapped Jekkal.You have me now. 

Jekkal, relax. It's me, Tobias. I had to morph the slug to make sure they didn't find out. Tell me, is there any way to make a serum in the next hour? she seemed silent for a few seconds, repulsed at what I had become.

Yes. It wouldn't take longer than maybe ten, twenty minutes at the least. she responded. I would have talked longer, but they were about to release the stocks that held my new body.

**Chapter 7**

The stocks were released on my upper body, but the one for the tail remained still. I jumped to my hooves again, unable to move far. 

Seklin one-five-two, Do you have sufficent control of this host?

Yes, Visser. 

Could you tell me of its mission?

Yes. It was to create the serum for the Esscate Virus which has infested some of the bandits. They have already found antibodies.

Is your host trained enough to create it?

Yes, Visser. I walked back to the lab where Jekkal had been earlier, and picked up the small vial of hawk blood. _My_ hawk blood. She told me of various elements and compounds that would make the serum useable for all stages and variments. The result was a small flask of the yellowish serum, not much bigger than a mouse, but enough to be recreated easily. It took about ten minutes. This flask will cure the entire forces in one week. 

Tobias!Tashe cried, What are you doing?!

Listen to me. I'll go outside and show the flask to the visser where you can see it. Swoop down, pick it up, and let them chase you. We'll try to escape, and no one'll be the wiser.

Very well then, Seklin. Give me the serum and we will have it tested. boomed the Visser.

I stepped out gingerly, holding the flask my my right hand , allowing it to glisten in in the lamppost's light. I wanted Tashe to see the flask easily. After all, it was dark, and those aren't the best times for merlins. This serum should duplicate itself over an hour, given suffic- I was interuppted by a streak of gray swopping down. 

Andalite! He has the flask! 

A strange band of disesed Hork-Bajir, human and Andalite chased after the merlin with no sense of stealth at all. That would at least keep the merlin mind afraid and flying. I tried to turn away from the band.

Where are you going? 

Where you won't find me, Yeerk!I shouted in blazing hatred.

Forget the bird! After them! the visser screameded, I thought you had control!

There is a Yeerk in control. But not a true one.I sneered. 

I found my way into a clearing near a swamp area. my hooves flashed in the mud, leaving the visser, who was the only one fast enough to follow me, on my heels, following the trail I blazed. 

Andalite filth! I'll starve you in that body and infest her, even if I'm that Yeerk!

He probably would do that. If he caught up with us. He was stronger, faster and with it getting into thicker and thicker mud, he would catch up with us. 

I ran for all I was worth. I wasn't going to let it end like this. 

I was never going to let it end like this. 

**Chapter 8**

I was still ahead of the visser by about two lengths. My stalk eyes swiveled around to keep an eye on him and surrounding woods, in case there were any other controllers trying to help. I only had about a half hour left before the limit. I didn't want to go through that scene again. I moaned at the sight up ahead. 

A river. A raging , about level 4 river that had weathered away ten feet of solid rock. I knew I couldn't jump across it. So I did the next best thing.

I grabbed a pice of sturdy vine. Are you insane?! Jekkal screamed, You're going to kill us both!

Safer than the alternative. I reasoned. I had to. If we were dead at the end of this, At least I wanted it on good terms. 

Go for it. I grabbed the vine tensly as the cliffside came closer. Thirty feet, twenty-five feet, Twenty feet, fifteen feet, ten feet, five feet, two... close enough. 

I jumped. My hands clinged to the vine, then let go. Although with my Andalite body, it would have broken from the strain, anyway. 

I landed in the foaming surf of the river, as rocks, violent current and trees did their damage. The body was swept in the fury of it all. The visser ran along side the path of the river, watching us flounder in the rapids. Until he couldn't watch any longer. 

The river headed out into the ocean, where the cliffside became too high and the trees became too dense, even for his tail.

But it was too late. Jekkal said it had been one hour and fifty minutes. I had waited for fifteen before that. 

Five minutes too late. 

I was stuck as the filthi-

Tobias! MORPH OUT!

It's five minutes after the -

No! Five before! Morph out!

I cupped Jekkal's hands and slithered out of her. I remained there until I could see with my own eyes again. What do you mean, 'five before'?

You were right. They infested ten minutes before the set time. Therefore, you had five minutes left.

I was freaked. I was scared, disgusted, relieved, tired, hyper-active, and felt like I just ate a mouse whole. Bones and all.

I went down to the shore until Jekkal had changed into a seagull. Tashe was already one. 

I flew down into the night, trying not to hit a tree as I landed for sleep.

I definitely wish I hadn't woken up in the morning. 

"_You. _Did. _WHAT_?"

**Chapter 9**

"Rachel, I might understand. Marco, I might understand. Cassie, well, Cassie would be punishing herself. Ax and the others, I'm not sure. But you? You're the absolute last person I would expect to-"

Jake, will you listen for once! It was a few days after we got the serum. Jekkal made more of it. We used it on ourselves, then sent the remaining doses, with instructions, to the hospital so Jake could get better. I on the other hand, ended up ratted out to explain how we got the virus and why it took too long. I had been cooped up in a cage out in the woods, feeding on mice, until they could settle what to do with me. Now everyone (almost) was healed, healthy, and looking not too happy at me or what I'd done. 

I wasn't too glad with myself either. "Fine. Explain."

Jekkal was supposed to find the supplies and get out. But she got caught. We only had an hour to figure out what to do, since we didn't have a serum to trade for her. I decided to morph the Yeerk to make sure they wouldn't find out. Turns out the Visser cheated us. I was able to make the serum, then set it up so that Tashe would grab it. As they were chasing him, I peeled off the group, having the Visser follow me until I got to a river that I jumped into. It led me to the ocean, where I demorphed. Barely before the two hour limit. I summed. 

"In other words," sneered Marco," You morphed the enemy, infested your own teammate, and almost got yourself trapped. Again. On the other hand, however, you kept the Yeerks from finding out who we are, and you got us the serum."

That's one way of putting it. I moaned. 

Marco is right. He kept the knoweledge of the Animorphs a secret. That should be maintained at all costs. stated Ax, backing me up.Although even I am repulsed at this method, it was necessary.

"I agree. But he could have just gotten her out and saved the trouble."

No. She was locked up with guards all around her. The two of us? It would have been suicidal.

With all due respect, When I was... infested, Tobias did not pry my thoughts, or use me with an iron fist. He merely kept my anger under control, allowing it to seem as if I really was on their side. True, I was infested, and also true Tobias was that Yeerk, but he did not use his power the wrong way. spoke Jekkal. I was surprized at what she said. In the beginning, she thought I was a new enemy. One she had to fight from within.

"Okay. I'll pardon Tobias. But he better not try that morph _again_." Jake said, giving me a hard cold stare.

I won't. Trust me. 

That was one promise I meant to keep. Later, after the trial broke up, Jekkal stepped near me.

Tobias. You didn't see _too_ far into my memory, did you?

No. I didn't even look.

Good.

**Epilogue**

Almost everyone was cured, but Casten's case proved fatal. We had him buried under an oak sapling. I was almost surprised at how calm they seemed, doing this. I guess they're used to that sort of thing, but it still kept them in a funk for a couple of days. 

Even with the serum, a lot of Hork-bajir and Taxxons died from it. We must have cut down the Yeerk forces by at least a third. Fortunately, none of the humans died. 

I was kinda surprised by what I'd done. Maybe I was turning into something I didn't want. Maybe I was ashamed of it. But one thing's for sure. 

This war will never be the same. 


	3. The Past

**Chapter 1**

My name is Jekkal-Corlen-Fahlo.

Most of the Animorphs will tell you about what is happening with the Invasion of Earth. I plan to tell what has. Before I was on the _GalaxyTree_. Before the integration laws. Before so long ago. In a place few know... or knew.

I was inlisted in the FAAS (Female Andalite Armed Squadron), as a medical officer. I had complete training. I was generally not seen on the bridge so often, but in the dome, where I would sometimes do a Kafit bird morph, and fly, or simply run around on the surface. Otherwise I would be in sick bay. 

The FAAS was a tiny division of the army. Very tiny. It had only one dome ship, the _WarBlossom_, which was terribly big considering the troops. About one hundered Andalites, total, made up the division. And even then, we were not the elite. Just a small group to help on back missions. I found it terribly unfair. But I couldn't complain, or I'd be thrown out of the military. I did want to fight. 

Lately, Captain Selain and the War-princesses on the ship started to change that image by making us the top forces. She thought that if they could see how much better the FAAS was they thought, they may allow more to join. However, that meant more practice in the simulator, and tail fighting in the dome. We had just landed at the spaceport, giving a performance that amazed the crowd. I was in a sparring competition, doing quite well. We were waiting for results. Selain was in a council, bargaining for our tiny division. 

WHAT?

That's what they told me. They said our show was good, and so on, but they aren't going to change anything.

Not even the missions?

_Especially_ the missions. They say we're stil too 'emotional and unprepared the true horrors of war'.

These are the horrors! Why are we even in the military if we aren't going to fight? She gave me a puzzling look. We left the spaceport the next day, and we all had the same attitude about it. 

About time!

Get me out of here!

Who needs Yeerks when that bigamist Electorate is around?

That's a little too far, isn't it?

I've never even _seen_ a Controller. How am I supposed to know?

Enough! I screamed. Okay, so the plan was a good as dung. Okay, so the trip stunk. Okay, so now we think the Electorate is nothing more than a bunch of high powered ----. Can we shut up about it? No one say anything about this until we get back to Z-space. 

It was a quiet trip. 

**Chapter 2**

The atmosphere inside the ship was no longer of sweat and hard work, but of anger that made fur stand on end. Everyone was in a sour mood. I don't even know why we try. No matter what we do, no matter how hard we try, it doesn't change one bit what they think of us. Selain cried.

You're the leader of this division. Can't you at least decide what we do? I asked. 

Your'e wrong, Jekkal. I'm just a captain. The leader doesn't even board this ship. HE doesn't even... wait! That's it! If they don't find out...

And if they do, we'll have blades to our necks!

Trust me, they _won't_. That night, inside the dome, a council was held. Everybody, including the two small arisths, Calli-Terrouss-Aquan and Melis-Serin-Lera, was there. On that night, we considered ourselves no longer under Andalite home world command. We were going to be run like a normal dome ship, treated like a normal dome ship, and _ruled_ like a normal dome ship. 

We decided to re-enter normal space around The Ssstram home world. I was advised by Selain herself to send a scout ship out with Calli and Melis. 

Don't go too fast for them. An _aristh_ is an _aristh_. she said, chuckling at her own wit. I laughed too. 

We were all in the small ship, scanning for anything that may indecate Yeerk forces, when it showed up. 

A ship, coming out of Z-space. Too small for a mother ship, but too big for a fighter. 

A blade ship.

**Chapter 3**

It was the only one that had entered, so I figured it was not too much of an ordeal. After all, the Ssstram home world was already conqured, so probably, it was only a visit. 

Probably was wrong. 

A dracon beam seared the main engine, making us unable to move, only turn. It was with such accuracy and precision, I wondered, _What would make them do that_ ?

Jekkal, what happened? Selain boomed through the intercom

A fighter, coming from the blade ship, inched closer and closer to our craft. It connected with us, yet I still hadn't opened the door. 

It opened on its own. Three Hork-bajir, armed with their own dracon beams, stepped inside. 

Jekkal, answer me! What happ- Selain cried again. The lead slammed his fist into the system, shutting off the intercom. The arisths had no training (or not enough,) at tail fighting, and the cramped quarters made it impossible for me to try anyway. I had no choice but to accept defeat and be taken. 

The Hork Bajir worked quickly, shackling my hands and sheathing the blades in zelonite, a rare material that is too hard for blades to cut, but is thin enough to be used as fabric. Helpless, they led us down into a ramonite box in their fighter, carrying us towards the blade ship. 

It only took a few minutes to connect with it, but they felt like a few years to me, being hurtled to oncoming doom. 

I was manhandled down to the battle bridge and thrown to the the ground, stopping at the hooves of the visser. 

Yes, _hooves_. Out of all the Controllers in the galaxy, there are millions of Hork-bajir, Taxxons, and miscellaneous spiecies that have fallen, but only one Andalite. 

Visser Three. The most dispised of all controllers. 

This was insane. I was a doctor, not a warrior! But I guess they don't care one bit. No, maybe they do. I know methods beyond Yeerk medicine. And the children .... have morph capability! If anything, they would want that. 

I sprang to my hooves. I wanted to face my enemy in the eye, not at his feet. 

A female? Hah! He mused.I knew they couldn't get too many soldiers into the army, but this? He slapped me across the face with the flat of his blade. I stood unmoved, trying not to look weak. 

I guess that host of yours still has some say. After all, I still see prejudice and Andalite arrogance in those eyes. I sneered. I eased my tail towards my hands, hoping to take off the zelonite cover and have my blade free. I couldn't hope of fighting the visser, but possibly getting one good shot.... 

Then perhaps you'll prefer our side. Equal-opprotunity infestation. Male, female, young, old, doesn't matter. They'll all have our men in their heads. I almost... Yes! It was free. I would only get one chance. 

THWAK!

Ow! I hit him on the left side of the face hard enough for it to turn green under the flesh. His blade was up to my neck before I even saw him comfort it. 

I glared at him with cool eyes.You wouldn't dare damage me. You would want an Andalite body for your lieutenants. Or at least you would want more use out of a prisoner than this. He withdrew his blade, keeping a wary eye. Very well, then.

Tseww!

I slumped down in a heap, waking up in a dark room. A searing pain was in my leg, making it impossible to stand. I had no idea where I was or how the wound appeared. 

Let's see how brave you are now. Visser Three's sinister thought speak announced. 

Chapter 4

They dragged me out into a wide room, very plain, with hardy grass. Probably where the visser fed. I hobbled, trying to walk on three legs,to no avail. I noticed that the _arisths_ were still being held. 

Too weak to even stand, lady? No matter. This fight won't be long.

I stood on my hooves again, ignoring the pain. I wasn't going to be challanged and lose because of it.

He played around, forcing me to jump, dodge, and move in every way twice over as he laughed at my position. He swiped at me, I rolled over to avoid. 

Hah! An Andalite that does tricks!

You like that? Watch _this_! Let me make a point here: In medical training, all soldiers get a novice class, but doctors take more for specialization, etc. That includes surgery, heath inspections, and anatomy. In defense, anatomy comes in handy. 

Very handy. 

Thoop!

AHHHHHHHH! His howl never stopped. I struggled to get back up and get out of there as fast as I could. They couldn't stop me, as they were unarmed. Or at least as unarmed as they could be, with those blades of theirs. 

Follow me! I tried to remember how the blade ships were laid out. It's not normal information, but sometimes I try to find weaknesses in the structures and study them. Such information is useful in battle, for disableing or having enough for one hit. In this case I would need it to locate the Bug fighter. _It should still be here_, I thought. 

I found it ungarded. I grabbed two of the dracon beams and tossed them over to the _arisths_.Here. We'll need it. I hastened.

I struggled to figure out the controls and hurry the others inside. Just in time, too. The Hork-bajir were entering just as I draconed a hole in the door, seeing as it wouldn't let me out. They died almost instantaneously, after seeing that I just opened into the vacuum. I tried to speed away, seeing that if the ship could target me, it would be all over too soon. 

Selain!

Who the...? Jekkal? I thought you were-

Listen. we managed to grab a bug fighter, and we need to get in and away from here, immediately!

She paused for a moment. How do I know your'e not a controller? It's happened. She crossed. 

I turned for the weapons station. Ready...Aim... SHOOT!

TSEWW! TSEWW!

Twin beams blazed across to break the neck of the ship, crippling it. Well?

She immediately acctepted me aboard and congratulated me on my escape. Too bad we can't tell command about this.But you deserve a promotion anyway.

Tell command about _what_? I twisted my stalk eyes to see that the transmitter had been on already for a few seconds, catching the last bit of our conversation. According to the readout, you are not in the right sector, and in Yeerk territory.

Well,... It's a long story. I explained my tale to him, in every detail, except for the parts the _arisths_ had. 

Hold on. You mean to tell me that this whole time, The dome ship was mutining against my orders, you and a couple of arisths were captured, fought the ambomination in a tail fight, stilll manged to escape, and lay a blow to his ship?

Yes. I sighed. I'd probably be thrown out for sure, or worse.

Amazing.

I had been immediately promoted to princess, and the arisths were given commendations for their actions, but no promotion. He did, however, want to speak with Selain for a little longer. I left the room for a few minutes. When the transmission was over, she walked out of the room, eye stalks drooping. 

What.... what happened?

I've been impeached. They want me back to the electorate for sentencing.

What about a fair trial?

You learn quick in this army-nothing is fair. She moved back into a seculded spot of the dome, fell to her knees, and grieved. 

**Chapter 5**

We were back on the home world,this time for that purpose. Nothing was told about it except the posted anouncements that read:

_War-princess Selain-Terrous-Corri pronounced gulity of mutiny against the Andalite military. Sentencing is in progress and details including chosen punishment will be sent out soon._

Of course, it was a lie. First off, the ship _as one_ chose for its independence. Second, it was not mutiny to the military, just to the one who ran our division. We still kept to every law and code of the military.We were just acting... normal. 

The entire crew was set on leave. I went back down to my family's scoop for some well needed time off. It would have been good to be there again, except it haunted my mind of what would happen to her. The Electorate's patriot-breakers does a good job of scaring off most recriuts, and when you end up on the wrong side.... you don't want to know. 

The patriot-breakers are a hate group. Females in the military are secretly frowned upon, so the Electorate pays for them to scare students out of recriuting. 

I know. Once, they ran through our family's grazing land, setting afire the edge of our scoop, leaving a prominent shredder, symbolizing the army, burning at the south end. It took a long time to put out the fire. We had to live at our friend's scoop until the land was good enough to graze on again.

But the Electorate will try anything, use any rotten excuse or enforce any unjust law to keep us from the rightful power and glory we deserve. My own escapade proved that we could do that, and they still toss it aside. Was it not that important? Or did they want to instill a sense of hopelessness? I did not know. Until the sentence was announced:

_Warrior Selain-Terrous-Corri's punishment has been dealt. The FAAS, with its new captain, Derral, will leave in two days._

I never felt more of a conspiracy zealot until that moment. Every last shred of faith in the Electorate was gone. 

Like I had any. 

**Chapter 6**

_Six years later...._

My story was heard, though. Every new _aristh_ who joined the FAAS, by fate, bravery, determination, or perhaps just dumb luck, heard my tale of the fight. We were still the lowly group of backwards warriors we always were, but we still had that hidden pride, knowing that one day, we were going to be as enblazed in history as well as any other warrior that ever lived. 

I was on leave, when I came upon a new challange. One of amazing risks. one that struck at the heart of the spaceports, shattering the home world. 

A protest!

Many of the sisterhoods had gathered in full fury, beckoning at the entrance, blocking the way for all soldiers. Except when Selain, who was one of my own soldiers now, tried to get through. they had seperated, creating a pocket for her. I asked one of the barrier workers what was going on.

Don't you know? We've finally gotten enough proof of their prejudicial means to hit 'em for better treatment! said the keyed up protestor. In a slyer tone she added,I got it straight out of my husband.

I should explain. Sisterhoods were the main unity groups for females. They were for communication's sake, where interaction was not limited by the technology. Sometimes they would talk about topics such as these, but not in such force. And never like this!

Maybe they do now. I don't know. It's been so long since I joined in one, except sometimes on the dome. 

I decided to stay at the spaceport and help out the protest, keeping away any breakers who could have stopped it. After a few days of protest, The Electorate decided to allow integration for the military, including more recruits and stopping the hate groups from striking. There have been rumors they only did this because their wives hassled them into it. 

I guess I'll never know.

They also re-assigned Selain to War-princess, giving her back command of the _WarBlossom_, the still female Dome Ship, upon request. There are many co-ed dome ships, and a few left that are male only. I chose to try one of the co-ed ships. In my quarters, I had beside the hologram of my parents another one. Of me and Selain. We had grown quite close during the time. I kept the original at my scoop, while I took a copy of them with me on the _Galaxy Tree_. 

Good thing, too. The battle for Earth... I had thought it would be my last. But the Ellimist... fate...did not think so. I'm still here, and I still fight. My main enemy, Visser Three, is here too. He has now realized it, and strives to find the 'bandits' even more.

I keep one thought in my mind, when it comes to fighting on Earth.

_So much the better._


	4. The Free

Chapter 1

**Marco**

My name is Marco.

And yadda, yadda, yadda. No last name, no address. The Yeerks are everywhere. We can't trust anyone. 

Let me explain. The Yeerks are this parasitic race that goes into your mind and takes control. Completely. You have no control, no privacy, and worst of all, no escape. 

Not yet, anyway. See, we're hoping there is a way. We Animorphs. 

Like the name? I thought of it. Animal Morpher. We are the only ones who know what's going on and can do a thing about it.

See, It all started when five of us, Jake, Cassie, Rachel, Tobias, and I, walked through a construction site. Not the smartest thing we did. Maybe it was. I don't know. 

There was a battle up in orbit. The Andalites got hammered and one of them landed. His name was Elfangor. 

He was going to die. But it would be too long before help could come. He gave us the power to morph before Visser Three murdered him. We've been doing a pretty good job for a bunch of kids.

Okay, a bunch of kids and a few Andalites. See, not all the Andalites got hammered in that fight. Elfangor's brother, Ax, was found by us. He's been a big help since. More currently, The Ellimist dropped off a few new Andalites from then, too. 

FIrst, there's Raeolin-Ashul-Tallien, a warrior who seems normal among what Andalites we have seen. Tashe-Kelane-Fahleen, a scientist who knows most aspects of technology, making him too valuable to the Yeerks and us. Casten-Tellon-Harelin, a teammate who is slightly cocky, not as bad as Rachel, but still cocky. Finally, Jekkal-Corlen-Fahlo, who is a female Andalite doctor. We've already lost Casten, but It hasn't seemed to have hurt us. 

Female Andalites don't look too different from the men. Just that they look more lilac than blue. I haven't learned if the personalities are different. But I'm willin' to bet. 

Now us. First there's Rachel, who looks like one of those mall airheads that looks like a supermodel. But looks are deciving. She's totally reckless and aggressive. 

Then there's Jake. He's our unofficial leader who acts way too responsible. 

After him, there's Cassie. Our resident animal nut and provider of morphs. She's basically our moral department. 

Finally, you see Tobias. He used to be a dreamy kid, with dirty brown hiar and light blue eyes.

Used to be. Now, of course, he's a red-tailed hawk with a strong, firce stare. He regained his power to morph from the Ellimist, but he can't afford to get trapped again. 

Anyway, we were walking down to the barn, since Ax and Tobias had been seeing some new creatures in the forest. One even tried to attack him. 

And I have a pretty good respect for anything that fights Ax. 

Chapter 2

Cassandra

I flew into the night, straining for every inch I could get before the sun rose. I was leading our little band as far as we could fly from the Yeerks. 

We landed at Check9. It was a human train station, but we do not remember them by those names. Zoe would be waiting for us there. I landed on the awning, where the canadian goose was waiting. 

"Zoe?"

Jacob, actually. Zoe is... He didn't need to finish his sentence.

"I understand." I opened the silent roof and eased myself in. I clipped my torso buckle and was helping with Saylon's, since she has no arms.

Listen, Cassandra. Your freinds, your comrades.... The secrets have been told. we are being destroyed. Tortured, even. I do not know if you will find Alex at Check10, or even if Alex is still alive.

I nodded. The hood closed on me, allowing the cold steel to drift me to sleep. 

I awoke a night later, where the moon was just rising. I scanned the trees. Yes, Alex was there. Every bit of his golden eagle self.

Cassandra! I thought you guys would have been long gone. I have to warn you, though, There have been some strange things. I wouldn't stay here for too long. he said grimly, I think The Yeerks are concentrated here. 

I thanked him for the information and flew off into the forest. If the Yeerks were here, we needed to know how bad the situation was. And that meant taking a few days trying to find out how bad. I landed in a small hole in the treeline. Next to a creature with four hooves, two hands, and four eyes. 

The Visser. 

"HISSSSSS!" he sprung awake, staring at me. "This is it, Visser. You don't escape me this time."

I am not Visser Three! He slashed at the spot whre my wings had been. Luckily, I had gotten about ten feet into the air, preparing my strike. I dove down aiming to go around the tree and secure his legs. Those tails are good, but even they can't strike two targets at he same time. 

Unfortunately, I didn't see the dead air. 

WHUMMP!

I hit the ground hard, and flew/crawled as fast as I could into the woods. 

Chapter 3

Jake

We were at the barn, listening to Ax's encouter. "Are you sure you don't recognize it?"

Prince Jake, It was like no creature I've heard of. All we know is they _do_ know the Yeerks. Perhaps that one may have escaped.

"Jake, listen. We need to find out what is going on, who these guys are, and if they do fight the Yeerks, how to help them. " stated Rachel. 

I don't know. I was sleeping and I saw one similar to what Ax described, but not quite. I think at that size, it could have been hunting. Tobias said. I nodded. If it was hungry enough, it could have done that. Although I have no clue who would be insane enough to fight Ax.

"Alright. Step one: We find those animals, whatever they are. Step two: We find out what they want. Step three: we either help them or acquire them, depending on step two. If Tobias's guess is right, they're just predators we could use for morphs. If Ax is right, we can help them." I noted.

"I think we should acquire them anyway. I mean, we're talking Hork-bajir-size lizards. They should have a lot of muscle." Rachel pointed out. We quickly morphed to bird-of-prey, and fanned out around the area. They weren't hard to find at all. I mean, they were pretty big, and the rainbow of colors were way too noticeable. Even more so than Ax was. 

Woah! I am not kidding! Woah! Marco exclaimed out of sheer delight. 

They were about twice as long as a Hork-bajir, but half was in the tail. Each one at least had wings, and some also had arms or legs. A few had both. The cobra-like hoods were as big as umbrellas, and the rest of the body went similarly. the hands and feet were shaped like bird feet, ending in the most wicked talon you could think of. 

They were the ultimate warriors.

Chapter 4

Rachel

There were about ten of them in that little group. Ten creatures in all sorts of vivid colors, two to each. A few were lounging in a tree. Some of the others were laying on the ground, racing a couple of mice. One wallowed in the stream, keeping the head on a rock jutted above the surface, splashing the water. 

That tells us if they're smart or not. What do we do? asked Cassie. 

Demorph. I answered, alighting to the ground, already seeing my legs were losing scales. 

As I grew, the eyes started noticing me. I think a few were eyeing me, deciding if I was prey or not. But one knew what to do.

"AAAIIIEO! AAAIIIEEOO!"

Are you insane?! They'll eat you! Marco cried. They were standing at attention now, waiting for the figure to appear from the distance. 

Oops. In the oak tree. 

FLUMP! Rustle, rustle...

This one was new. It had arms. It had wings. But it was white. 

Dead white. 

And it was coming toward me!

I quickly focused on the grissly bear. The white one stopped. I was already at its eye level. I quickly sprouted fur, as my mouth bulged out and grew teeth. My fingernails grew to accomodate my paw. 

It probably was a pretty weird scene. A full-grown grizzly bear, and a ...whatever, staring eye-to-eye. It would have been funny. If it wasn't insane.

"What the heck is that?" I heard the reptilian pitch of its voice. 

Ahhhhh! I stepped back. It spread its wings wide and arched its neck, daring me to fight. 

Rachel, move back! You're going to end up dead! Tobias wailed.

No, I'm not.

Yes, you are. Look, That thing fought Ax and almost won. I know you couldn't beat Ax if you wanted to, so what makes you think you can fight that? I knew he was right. I stepped back again, trying to demorph as fast as I could. I could run faster as a human.

She cocked her head quizically. "What are you?"

"I'm.... Rachel. What are you?"

"We are Semites. My name is Cassandra, this is Sabina," she pointed to the pink and blue one that was like a bird,"And this is Nacaro." She said, pointing to the red and yellow one with all limbs.

I looked into the tree. "C'mon guys. They're okay."

Chapter 5

Cassie

I couldn't believe it! Another spiecies on Earth like humans? I've seen some weird creatures, before. I've seen other sentinent spiecies form on other planets. I've seen souls in dolphins and whales.

But I have never seen another sentinent spiecies from Earth. They looked untouched, unchanged. What I heard was different.

Ax was right. Cassandra told me how the Yeerks found their hidden island. How they escaped enslavement. How they were lucky to have come from their voyage so they weren't captured. How they used an intricate network of train systems to travel all across the world. 

"There are birds who have powers to communicate with us. We meet with them every check point. They help us keep in touch with the rest of the world." She explained, as a golden eagle perched on her finger. "This is Alex. He is the one for Check10, the station in this area. He told us the Yeerks were here.

Our way of life and this network is in danger, since they know about it, but they do not know exactly where each checkpoint is. And that has slown them down. But we need your help. 

Lately, we have been planning to go down to the caverns and free our comrades. After seeing you, I think we have better chances than before."

You mean you guys are planning to go down to the Yeerk pool and think you will win? Tashe asked with awe. 

"Cassandra, If you tried to go down there, you would have been so better off not trying." I said. 

True. You be enslaved like your friends. Jekkal noted. 

Personally, I think that now, we could go down and win that fight. It is their species. They should have a chance. Raeolin commented. 

I visualized the scene. Semites and Animorphs against Hork-bajir, Taxxons, human-controllers, Semite-controllers, and Visser Three himself. It could work, if Semites had something up that sleeve I didn't know. Then again, they did look pretty strong. In fact...

"Cassandra! If we went down with you... as Semites... do you think it would work?"

Her hood flipped down for a moment. " I guess so, but.... how?"

"We could acquire you. Become you."

"No. Each one has a different apperance. They would know."

We could combine DNA to give new appearances. Ax commented. 

"Okay. We allow acquirement. But I cannot be. They would surely know then." I pressed my palm against Nacaro and a green and yellow one with wings. The others picked different combinations. 

"Now how do you do it?"

For a _Frolis Manuver_, you imagine the combination as if they were one, then use that.

"A what?" Marco commented. I paid no heed. I pictured a brown and green one with Cassandra's build. The changes came immediately. My legs turned into jello. 

WHUMP! 

WHUMP!

WHUMP!

WHUMP!

WHUMP!

WHUMP! The Andalites fell from their legs doing that, too. _Bad idea_, I thought. My bones stayed, but were useless for standing. They straightened out and elongated, with a thin film going down where the joint was, heading from the socket to the feet. Meanwhile, my butt was disappearing as my spine grew a tail. A humongous tail. 

I pulled myself erect, using my ribs more than my arms, which were getting stronger, my fingers melding, the nails sticking out like talons. I still had a human head, and mostly human torso, but blackened skin. 

"Reminbz dwee ub a dragonfly." Marco said his mouth changing, fumbleing over his new mouth until he could speak right again. My own head was changing, bringing my nose up, widening my mouth, and changing my sight slightly. I could see everywhere except behind me, because of my hood, which was sticking out where my hair was, but further back. I was completely Semite. 

The scales came then, covering my morphing suit and skin, giving me the color I needed. The others were beginning to finish their morphs. Tobias had a bird style of red and orange, Jake had all limbs with navy and green, Marco had wings in red and orange, Rachel had bird style in orange and pink, Ax had arms in blue and orange, Raeolin had all limbs in red and yellow, Tashe was bird in green and orange, Jekkal armed with yellow and purple, and Casten in wings of yellow and red. 

Looked like my jeans after a bad day in the clinic. 

Chapter 6

Jake

We started to plan how to strike back. She told us they were infested around the same time, so we decided that one strike should do the job, or otherwise encourage the temporarily freed Semites to finish it. 

Tashe had been watching the forest enerance to the Yeerk pool that Tobias pointed out from when we saved the Hork-bajir. 

A few Semites and Hork-bajir do come out, so I doubt we would look out of place. Tashe summed. 

"One thing. How do we get Cassandra down there?" Nacaro asked. 

"Same way we get you down." I shrugged.

"No, no. I mean how do we get her down there without a lot of commotion? Cassandra is the leader of all Semites. We would look too out of place with her."

"Nacaro, I do not reveal all my secrets." Cassandra cooed as her scales became awash with a fluid that blotted out her white. The transformation to a brown and pink made every jaw in the group drop. I bet if Andalites had jaws, theirs would drop, too. 

I thought only we had morphing ability. Ax exclaimed. 

"Morphing ability? No, this is camoflauge. But I cannot get injured, or it stops. Then my color will be revealed. " 

We ticked off the minutes as we waited for the oak to open. We quickly sprang inside while they were gathering tree bark and prey for the others. 

It was a wide, sheer drop, with only a ladder for Hork-bajir to use. The dirt changed from brown to gray to a dark purple as we entered deeper and deeper into the complex. 

We tried to look inconspicuous as we walked around the complex and found where the Semite cages were located. A guard stopped by. I guess he thought something didn't look right. He left, puzzled. I didn't think much about it until....

TSEEWW!

"Get the rebels!" Rebels? 

Oh. They think we're _real _Semites. That explains it. I fell to all fours and hauled. Unfortunately, that didn't help. A small group, sabers unsheathed, blocked the exit. I decided to see how well Semites flew. 

I managed to levitate off the ground above the savgery and unlock one cage with my claw. But I had to move fast. Saber and Hork-bajir blade hit Semite flesh and Semite flesh didn't do too well. The blood was oozing out and staining the floor of the cavern. One in particuluar took off about a sliver of wing. Not much, but just enough. 

She turned bright white. 

"Cassandra!" The call tore through the cavern and echoed for five seconds, being the only sound in the cavern. I swear, even the pool stopped churning. 

The other Controllers no longer paid attention to anything else but Cassandra. Except _him_.

Chapter 7

Ax

A new Semite, with all six limbs in blue and yellow stepped into the cavern. They instantly surged with a new liveliness, as though he brought new power to the warriors. Only one person could have done that. 

Visser Three. 

I disuguised myself as one of the controllers beckoning to him, as I calculated in my head for the strike. 

I came closer and closer, until I could be sure to hit. I would have to make sure not to stay around him for too long, of fear he could kill me. Semites don't have tail blades, but those fangs and claws do enough damage anyway. 

I lunged for the belly! 

Strike!

HOWWWAL!

I released quickly, straining for air as all tried to get a swipe or shot at me. The visser was demorphing, trying to escape the posion. 

I landed near Prince Jake, who was opening various cages and making use of my distraction. I took hold of a sword as they closed in on me. but they ran stright over me with a new target in mind. 

Visser Three was back in Semite morph, clutching another sword and inching closer and closer, focusing on Cassandra, the Semite leader, again. I found a sheath to hide the blade and lightly tossed it in her direction. 

Here! She plucked it from the air and shook the cover off, daring all to face her. 

CLANGGG! 

SHOOP! The blades collided as each swing was more accurate, deadly, and powerful than the last. Cassandra was driven in desperation to the tops of cages, trying to stay further from the visser's span. After all, I doubt he ever sword fought before, but tail fighting is similar to it.

They took wing, driving the edge of difficulty to the limits, as the battle took full fury above the pool below. 

Chapter 8

Tashe

The aerial battle ensued with all eyes concentrating, either to see the victor of the match or to see when their chase would continue, so they could escape. Both of them were suffering minor wounds, but none that would stop the fight. 

I decided to act on my own, circling closer and closer towards the fight so I could find a weakness wihout falling to certain doom. 

Holding the metal sheath in my claws, I charged into the fight. 

KA-LANGG!

The weapons flew out of their hands, to sloop into the pool below. I quickly moved out of the way, as the fight took from sword to fang and claw.

Also tail. I didn't discover that until the whiplike flash of skin grazed my wings and hurled me to the metallic pond below.

I strained my wings and adjusted my body to deal with every angle and trace breeze and thermal to help me. It was a physics problem from school in real life. Could I make it without hitting the pool? Without becoming a Controller?

Yes! I dived down and turned back up to land on the cage top. I curled my tail in and watched the remainder of the fight. More blows were being taken. The scales littered the top of the pool. 

Swipe! Lunge! Grab!_Grab?_

The visser grew limp as Cassandra held him barely aloft by the wrist. Her color was turning to the darkest black, as the scales regrew themselves.

How, _How_, HOW?! That's impossible!

SPAH-LOOSH! The visser fell in as Cassandra land near me and changed. 

Yes, _changed_. _Morphed_. She gew two new legs, light blue and tan, while her wings grew muscles and hooves, and her arms thinned and fingers split, suiting themselves for the new body. I could see the stalk eyes popping out over the disappearing hood. 

An andalite! Where did she-

AHHH! The visser's thought-speak boomed. 

What are you doing? You trying to get us both killed? Cassandra spoke, in fear and confusion. She ran straight for my tail, where I grabbed her within my talons.

Let me go! Let me go!

Tashe, stop it! Casandra spoke again. Now I knew! But I couldn't beleive it, even though I witnessed it all! 

Not until you tell me what is happening.

Let us go or you'll get nothing! And RUN!

Chapter 9

Tobias

This was getting too weird. 

One: The visser was floating in the Yeerk pool, unconscious. 

Two: Cassandra took him out with a grab to the wrist, then turned black. 

Three: Cassandra just morphed, literally _morphed_, into Visser Three's Andalite body.

Four: Cassandra never got morphing powers, let alone an Andalite morph. 

So Five was: I'm nuts. What I just saw couldn't happen in real life. I walked over to Ax. If it made sense, he might know what was going on. Or not. Then again, our lives stopped making sense the day we went thorugh the construction site. 

Ax, did Cassandra just morph the visser?

Personally, I don't even think I can tell.

Guys! we need to haul butt! NOW! Jake screamed. Visser Three was coming back to consciousness, and already was noticing something was wrong. He strained to speak with his mouth, since he obviously couldn't use thought speak. 

Not that it mattered. 

HEEEASSSSSS!

He lunged down at us, dogging our heels as the flow of escapees slowed us down. I tried to use airspace to move up higher and higher, but even that was crowded with Hork-bajir carrying humans up, and with other Semites crowding the exit.

"Bring me the head of that child!" He roared, with his still faithful soldiers trying to do damage. I already had everyone up the forest exit that were there out, except us. 

I rocketed up there, and locked the exit the best way I could. Jake had grabbed a dracon beam, keeping it trained on the tree, in case they opened it. 

What do we do now? We have at least a hundred ex-controllers that they'll be looking for, they know we're in this section of the forest, and to top it off, Cassandra is doing stuff we have no clue about. Marco summed. He may be a pessimist, but I couldn't disagree. 

It's called a black body manuver. It comes in handy around Relons, but I do not use it much. All I need is contact, and I can take any body it has. The brain and/or instincts still come with it, but it coexists with my own. She explained, still in Andalite form. 

Take? As in keep?! Rachel roared. 

No. Within a few hours, the body will leave. But Visser Three will not get it back.

Wait. Jekkal pondered,You just took that body, trapped the visser, and within a few hours, the host will be free?

Yes. The new voice was the (ex-?) visser's. As she said, both brains were in there. 

Everybody stared at her, including most of the hosts, cast glances at the crowd, hoping one understood it, then cheered. I couldn't believe it myself. Our main enemy, no more than a common controller! I mean, we didn't kill him, but we got rid of his morphing. And a new ally! One who knew the weaknesses of the Yeerks, at that! But a shaking tree stopped the small outburst. 

MOVE! They'll be here soon! Don't worry, we'll try to slow 'em down! Jake shot out. Cassandra/ Visser led the hosts away, while Ax and Raeolin tried to hold it shut, as Jake trained his weapon on the hole. I spied a rope in the bushes, left behind by one of the hosts. I moved around the tree, tying the rope tight, so they could relax. It seemed to hold pretty well, which was good because we needed to haul.

Big time. 

Chapter 10

Jekkal

Jake, listen to me. We have five minutes to demorph, or we'll be trapped! I screamed, as the lights and sirens came into view thourgh the thin section of forest. We had already been running for a half hour from the advancing controllers. 

The limit was becoming of a serious issue. None of us would be able to move and morph fast enough to escape them. I spied a small cave, not noticeable too well, except if you chanced to step in it, which did happen. 

WHUF!

Ow! Marco shot. 

Get in. We need to demorph! Jake ordered. It was big enough to fit all of us easily. We demorphed and waited for them to pass. Then we took our fly and wolf morphs to pass through to our area; The national forest behind Cassie's farm. There we decided to rest. 

We should try to find where they stopped, or even if they were recaptured or not. Tashe suggested. 

I'm good for about an hour. Tobias volunteered. 

"Okay," Jake sighed, out of breath and back as human,"You guys try and look tonight, while the rest of us go back home and join you in the morning. Our parents'll be worried. "

"Come on. I'll find you guys an owl to use; it'll be dark soon." Cassie said. I quickly acquired the owl and left to find them, with the others. I spotted it as Tobias had just left for his roost. A series of small fires, crudely made, with 'strange' shapes surounding them. I landed and demorphed, just as a new Andalite and Cassandra appeared. 

Alloran! You did it! Aximili exclaimed. 

I certainly have. But we still have the problem of what to do. There is nowhere to hide a hundred people! Not even in the most remote spots.

What would be wrong with here? It almost took us the whole time limit to find you. Imagine how long it would take for any one else to. Even if the Yeerks did find you out, I believe you would be able to fight back. I explained.

Long term?

Build a camp site? Raeolin suggested. 

No. I have a better idea. I suggested, Why not start a village? They cannot go back to civilization without being dragged back to the pool, and some don't have any place at all. It would also be a headquarters if we decide to let them help us. 

Alloran thought for a moment, then spoke.That would work. and privately he told me,Out of my entire career in both sides, that is the best idea I ever heard.

Chapter 11

Raeolin

We started the next morning with five backpacks full of necessary supplies for the village. We ran to the haven, seeing the first steps of clearing land beginning with help from the Hork-bajir. We worked on basic human structures and a hydroelectric turbine generator. By nightfall, we had the buildings done as far as bare shells, and the generator completed. 

We should stay here. Alloran suggested. 

Why? I asked. 

Well, we could help them with food, clothing, and so on. Also, we do plan to use it for headqurters. It simply makes sense. 

You can stay here. Help them. Handle the move. After I see it work,... maybe. 

I left, staying with a nagging doubt that a inter-species village wouldn't do. I usually don't have doubts, but when I started in this, I wondered how the 'Animorphs' could have gotten off so well. I guess Jekkal, Alloran or Aximili would have different views, but mine are still the same as they were when I started; slightly naive, but usually right. 


	5. The Mix

*****************************************************************************

The Mix _is not another _Megamorphs_. It is a series of short stories that don't work aywhere else, or aren't big enough to be a new book. They will be a part of the series, though._

*****************************************************************************

The Species

My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. 

I used to live alone on this planet, with only my human friends to be comfort. But ever since three warriors, Raeolin-Ashul-Tallien, Tashe-Kelane-Fahleen, Casten-Tellon-Harelin, Princess Jekkal-Corlen-Fahlo, and more recently, War-prince Alloran-Semitur-Corrass, joined in the battle for Earth, that has changed. Prince Jake has remained so, but it seems harder to obey him when Alloran and Jekkal are around. I wonder if he ever thinks about that.

My human friends insist on reducing my name to "Ax". They have also done similarly to the others, calling them "Rae" and "Alli". Tashe and Jekkal's names are easy enough to say for human language, so they do not do that. They would have done the same for Casten, but he died too soon. 

They aren't the only changes that have been happening. Lately, we've freed thirty-seven Semites, twenty-three Hork-Bajir, and forty humans. But we have had to build a village for all of them since they can't live anywhere else. Similar to when we saved two Hork-Bajir, but much more difficult. 

I have been living near this campground, helping to smooth out any problems there may be with the experiment. Raeolin has not moved there, because he does not think it would work,even though what I have done with the Animorphs contradicts that. 

One day, I was traveling down the river the village stream flows into, scanning the land. It has become necessary because they are not believed dead yet. But lately, nothing outside of what's normal has happened. UntilI notitced a small rustling down stream. I went into bird morph to check. 

There was a pack that looked similar to Semites, with wings and all, but they all looked alike, with dull colors and each having all six limbs, except for the cloaked one who stood guard. He was white, like Cassandra. Yet completely different. 

The wings were similar to bat hands, except they were not restricted. Similar style horns decorated the head, just in front of the ears. There were no hoods, and they looked more muscular around the limbs. 

I went back to check with Cassandra about if she knew what they were. They certainly weren't anything I knew of. I demorphed and asked her. 

She turned even whiter than usual.

Chapter 2

"English dragon. You know how humans, in Medieval times, wove tales of them?"

Yes. I was listening intensely as she was explaining, appearing quite scared. I had learned about that in my _World Almanac_, which I had acquired earlier. 

"They were us. There were two groups, one of which was already flying to India, experimenting with a new spiecies, mating with king cobras to create a more limber version to escape the mobs. The other resisted, saying that would make the species weak. "

"So that's where the hoods came from." noted one of the teenagers in the village. Of the humans, thirteen were children, and four of them were teenagers. This one was a female with brown hair, light brown eyes, and olive skin. 

"As I was saying, this has caused great buffers between the two, creating sworn enemies. On the other hand, The new Semite tribes spread over the earth, creating different versions. The Islanders, us, are the only ones with such diversity. The Chinese dragons have no wings, just arms, and the African verison looks more like a giant lizard. 

The English have always had a strong hatred of all Semite groups, especially Islanders. Tavi-Lek, their leader, has complete control. But I feel that has changed."

Yes. They probably are all controllers.

"No. you said they were playing around in the water. That is normal dragon behavior. More likely only Tavi-Lek is, and controls the others from there."

I moved closer, in Semite morph, after we alerted the others, back to where they were playing. I watched as a new Semite approched the leader. 

Visser Three. 

My brother's killer. By Andalite law, I have to avenge Elfangor's death by killling him. But doing it now would blow my cover. 

I tried to listen to what they were saying, but the churning, splashing water drowned them out. A lounging dragon streched out his arms near our bush. 

FOOSH! Rustle... rustle. 

WHUMP!

Cassandra and I were yanked out of our cover, exposing our plans. The dragons surrounded us, timing every move perfectly, until they had tight grips on every limb, limiting my resistance to tail thrashing. 

"Well, well, well. The thief. Would the other be of a different type? A bandit, perhaps? An _Andalite_ bandit?" He crowed. See, The Yeerks belieive all of us to be Andalites, even though half of the group is humans. My friends say it is important or them to keep thinking that. 

Tavi-Lek moved closer. I caught a glimpse of his staff. It was brown, wood accent, with a dragon head, using an Earth metal called gold to show detail, and an Earth gemstone called ruby for the eyes. He planted the staff in the ground, and turned my head to focus on it. I quickly jerked out of the hold. 

"Not much. But he is Andalite." He yanked the staff back out and pulled a rod at the bottom, handing it to one of his men. A powder fell into his hand. He lightly tossed it into my direction, causing me to cough. He replaced the cap. 

Things seemed a lot simpler. My anger and frustration seemed to melt away, leaving me. 

"You will do as I say." The impending voice said.

Yes, Master.

Chapter 3

Ax! What are you doing!? A voice growled.

Snap out of it!

You traitor!

Voices. I didn't recognize any, nor care about them. They were meaningless. My master's wasn't. His was the only one that mattered. 

"Stand up." I sprang to my feet. 

_No, no._

"Demorph."

_Resist!_

I demorphed, while the voice grew stronger, seemed to take more control. I was returning into me. 

_Me!_

Uh-oh.

"Follow my friend to the pool."

I don't think so. I leaped at the group still holding Cassandra, taking out dragons with each swing of my tail blade, freeing her. She picked me up and flew away from the madness, while I morphed in midair.

I met back in the village with the others. What happened, Ax? Prince Jake asked,That's the first time you ignored me. He was till in Semite morph.

I'm sorry. That powder.... it must have been for hypnosis. I wasn't in control. I pleaded. The only reason I'm free is that he asked me to demorph, clearing it, or maybe the powder doesn't work on Andalites.

That staff... it told...didn't it?

Yes. But I think I stopped it before it found out too much. He would have told Visser Three if he did.

"Axi... We should try to find out more about what is going on before we do anything rash." Cassandra suggested. Sometimes she calls me that. 

I suppose so.

The Truth

My name is Tobias.

I haven't moved yet, but that's only because where I live now is good enough for me. That, and there's another hawk in the territory. I do commute there, though, just to help out. We haven't shown them that humans can morph, But they know one hawk can. It's bad for security, but I am hard to pick out of a lineup, so that makes it okay. To me, anyway. 

It was night, and I decided to head off to sleep. Hawk eyes and flight are great during the day, but I'm almost helpless at night. Sometimes, I let the hawk mind take over, which dreams about eariler in the day, when I was having some fun. When I have control, I dream like a normal human does. Or at least as close as I can get to it, what being a bird and all. 

This wasn't normal. 

I was in this field, with blue grass. I saw what looked like asparagus spears and broccoli that must have been trees. The sky was red and gold. Then something that I swear looked like it was out of a cartoon, with a spring for legs and bulging eyes. 

I took to flight, looking around for something that would make sense to me. I'd never seen, dreamed, or read about a place like this. It looked almost desrted, and this was supposed to be a dream. What the...

Who is more like it. I jerked around, looking at what seemed like a older Ax, but not quite. The voice was different. And the face. More like....

Elfangor?

How did you-

I don't know. My name's Tobias. And either there's a lot of explaining to do, or this is one heckuva dream.

**Chapter 2**

I perched on his shoulder as he walked around and explained his world. I started deciding it couldn't be a dream, the more I thought. For one thing, it didn't seem remotely familiar, and I knew the Ellimist didn't do stuff like this. 

But it still seemed impossible. If this was the Andalite version of Earth, didn't Ax say it was eighty-two light years away or something? How could I have gotten there? And how did Elfangor still exist? I'd seen him die.HOW!?

How what?

This doesn't make sense. How could- It suddenly snapped to me. How. What. When. Why. Who. Where. His life. His species. Everything. I flew of his shoulder to branch in one of the further away trees. I couldn't belieive what I'd just realized. Dad?

Yes. You understand now. 

For a few minutes we just stared at each other, hardly believing what I just found out. I almost think I would've cried if I could. I couldn't belieive it. I had family that stretched across a galaxy. I had a dad who understood what I was going through. I had an uncle who wasn't even the same spiecies I was. I had an entire family, that at one point or another, knew about the war. Why this way? Why didn't you tell me when we met?

You had just learned about the war. You wouldn't have understood then. You might have changed your mind about fighting. It would have been too much. I gave you enough at the time to understand the enemy better. When you grew exerienced was when you would find out the rest. The world started to waver, collapse. I woke up from the dream, now knowing too much to keep to myself. I flew over to the barn, morphing into Hork-Bajir and running as fast as I could to Haven. 

That's what we decided to name it. It seemed right. After all, it was a safe haven for free hosts. I tried talking to the others about it, but they still seemed skeptical.

Name one thing only he would know. Jekkal checked. I'm not sure if she has a soft side for me, but it seems like it. 

I know you two were dating on the _GalaxyTree_. She immediately started to blush, or at least that's what it looked like to me. 

**Chapter 3**

"This whole month has gotten too weird. First we discover Ax wasn't the only leftovers from that fight. Then we find out about this virus which we cure. We freed about a hundred people, who, incidentally, the Yeerks are looking for. After that, we find out about this dragon who almost gets Ax turned into a controller, and now this. Have we gone insane, or just Bird-boy for that dream he got?" Marco whined. 

"Just you, Marco." Rachel snapped. But she still semed skeptical. 

Everyone had made it to Haven, in various forms, and away from the rest of the village. Like I said, they still don't know about humans being able to morph, so it was necessary. 

"It would explain a lot. Although I don't know if it isn't just a dream." Jake summed. 

I checked it with Ax and the others. They said it makes sense. But I think Alli might have the answers. Part of Dad's... I mean, Elfangor's life had something to do with him, so he should be able to verify it.

"So ask him."

That's the problem. He still thinks we're a bunch of Andalites. I don't think he'll take too kindly if he finds out a bunch of humans can morph. Or that Elfangor gave the power to us. The two of them didn't get along very well. 

"But how do we know for sure?" Cassie mused. 

We don't. It looks hopeful, but... I let it hang. I didn't want to think he wasn't. At least I'll know who he was, what he looked like, what he did. Be proud of him. And, for once in my life, Everything'll make sense. I didn't want to give up on that yet. 

Not yet. 

The Move

My name is Cassandra.

I am not one of the Animorphs, or the Andalites, but I am important among the people at Haven. I co-rule with Alloran, seeing as that he cannot morph as well. You see, when I freed him from the Visser, I only brought his body. None of his morphs or morphing power he has can be obtained. I suppose it could be given back to him, but it would take some time. It would be out of my hands. I have been talking with him about moving the village, now that we'd seen English Dragons. 

They are a powerful breed. Slightly slower than us with their large bodies, but as strong as Hork-bajir, scrupulous in their work as Andalites, and thrive on fire. (At least that's what I've heard to explain why they _breathe_ it.) They would be able to rip the forest apart for miles a day to find us. They may not have the filthy slugs in their heads, but they are dangerous enough. 

I tried to focus on helping my people and their friends adjust to the move, making it as easy as I could. The humans carried survival gear, like utensils for cooking and catching fire (although the concept seems ridiculous to me) and coverings. The Hork-bajir and Semites carried the housings, which we made small and unanchored for just such a case, and the few Andalites helped with whatever couldn't be carried between the others, fashioning them on their backs. The Animorphs were in their raptor bodies, scanning the ground or skies for Yeerk activity. 

Any huge walk in these woods was made infintely harder with our cargo, since you were blinded half the time by whatever you were carrying. Watching the ground? Forget the ground. That is, until you step in a gushy spot. It either means you stepped in a river, or you _need_ a river to get it off. 

Woah! Guys! Stop! You're about to end up swept down about ten miles if you don't.Tobias cried. I put down my cargo to come upon a dilemma. How do you get across a huge river with out losing a thing? It looked much too deep to walk, too strong to swim, and even flying across it, It would be too much strain for Semites to carry everybody over. It would take too long to build a bridge. No, maybe not. 

I shared my plan with about ten other Semites. We formed a body chain, and spread over the span of the river. Hand to foot to joint to ground on each side. We opened our wings to widen the area covered. "All right. Use this to get over,and we'll handle it from there." I explained. 

Man, I've heard of being walked all over, but this is ridiculous! Marco laughed. 

Marco, knock it off. She's got enough trouble with her plan as it is. You're already being enough of a pain talking, so how about shutting up? Rachel snapped. But her words were worse than Marco's. There were problems. For one, Hork-Bajir feet were very sharp. They'd have to be careful walking. Two, Andalites are heavy. _Very_ heavy. And they needed lots of room to walk. English Dragons, _maybe_ could manage.Semites? Out of the question. And nasty hooves. They'd have to swim up beside us to get across. Three, I wasn't sure if Semite bodies could take the strain of others. If the chain broke, we could lose everything. Or worse, if someone couldn't take it... well, I didn't want to lose anybody, on my orders or not. 

**Chapter 2**

I began to see in hindsight that this wasn't such a good idea. But it was working.

The Andalites had no trouble getting across. The Hork-Bajir moved with such liquid ease it hardly felt like they were there at all. And the humans were too light to be much trouble. 

Trouble came in a log. 

WHUMP!

"Woah!" A human was right on Sabina when it hit her arms. The grip had started to weaken. If the bridge broke, everyone would fall in. Not to mention we could most certainly lose a few people. 

"Hold on!" Nacaro took my place as I went to the center of the river, Trying to help out the situation. I quickly grabbed both ends of the chain and reformed it. It was difficult trying to get over such a thin area, but they managed. We quickly moved out and away from that terrible place. 

We were in a small clearing now, trying to stay under the canopy as much as possible to avoid sighting. We were going to have enough trouble with the Yeerks as it was. We didn't need any nosy, greedy humans messing with us. 

We chose a new clearing that covered the top with overhanging branches and kudzu that sealed the rest of the holes, giving us a veritable roof to hide it. A river was right next to it, but was not too big for this to be covered, too. 

I decided to fly back with the Animorphs and Andalites to Cassie's farm, so they could imprint the path to Haven. We were passing the old site, and decided to rest. It was tiring . 

FWASH!

A tree top succumbed to the blow. Tavi-Lek was standing behind it, saber unsheathed. His pack moved out and around us. 

"Move!" I gave the signal to fly. Too slow!

Dragons and Semites are about equally matched, except in the mouth. they have fire; we have fangs. That's a problem in long range combat. But the quarters were too cramped for that. 

Good thing, too. They dragged us down into the fight. I really don't remember much more. Sometimes the cautious, thinking part of my mind leaves during times like this. The primitive, ruthless, kill-or-be-killed part boiling, seething section rules. All I know was I was biting, slashing, shoving, and whipping like a deranged lunatic.

We must have done plenty of damage, because they left. Then I looked around at it. We took out some of their men, but we also leveled trees for five yards, and made the ground barren. And Jake was on the ground, wings sliced off, and a nasty gash on his belly. I rushed to his side. 

I sighed. "He'll live if he demorphs. NOW!" I surprized myself by yelling. I hadn't fought like that since the incedent with a _drekel_ pack. My adrenaline was up and rushing through like a waterfall. 

I tried to help him through it. He was demorphing slowly, stopping the blood. 

I wasn't sure if it was enough.

**Chapter 3**

Jake was demorphing, albeit slowly. The others shielded him wtih their wings, making sure no controllers saw what he'd become. 

But that didn't stop Alloran. All expression drained from his face. 

What the... How the... _Aristh_ Aximili! Start explaining! Now! He had not yet learned of the humans that morphed. I guess Axi explained it while Jake returned to his normal self, Because next time he looked, he seemed in awe. Why didn't you tell me sooner?

"I.. we think we don't have to give out more information than nedded. You know, in case they did find Haven. Tobias also said that, well.... we didn't think that you would go over the idea."

Actually. I'm impressed. You've done so much, outwitted the Yeerk forces for so long. But who gave you the powers?

"Elfangor."

He peered quizically again. Looks like he picked the right people.

"You're not outraged? Shocked?"

Well, of course. But I must say, I've never seen a better band of warriors than this. 

The Andalites decided to stay along the outskirts of the farmland. I headed back to Haven, working out problems with the new land. We haven't had too may troubles, except for the stupid bridge over the river, always collasping. 

Well, nothing's perfect. 

Epilogue

I met with Alli at the forest edge just before sunset to perch on his shoulder. 

No sense dragging it out. Alli, I need to ask you something.

What, Tobias?

I shuddered at the passing breeze. Well, you were sorta close to Elfangor. And I had this weird dream, that he was my dad. The information that I've had since, well...you know... It opened up to me. Told me the truth. Everything about him. I thought since you would know, you could tell me if I'm right. I explained the parts that had to do with him. About him being a disgraced War-prince. About the infestation on the Taxxon home world. About him and the little universe. 

He pondered this for a moment. Then he held his head in disbelief. It's true. What I can't belive is that you are his son. It seemes to violate everything I know of. On the other hand, there is no way you could have known about it otherwise. 

It does seem to make sense. I mean, it explains why I didn't have much of a family, why I was drawn to him, everything. I just wish I knew sooner.

Trust me, you'll know more than you've ever thought possible by the time it's all over.


	6. The Prisoner

Chapter 1

My name is Tashe-Kelane-Fahleen.

One of the most promising scientists In the Andalite military. And only one of two on Earth right now. The second would be Aximili-Essgarrouth-Isthill. 

We live on Earth, in a forest that does quite a good job of hiding us from prying eyes, and even worse, prying controllers.

The truth is, we lost a dome ship in orbit above this planet. There were only five survivors. Aximili, and more recently, me, Princess Jekkal-Corlen-Fahlo, Casten-Tellon-Harelin, and my _shorm_, Raeolin-Ashul-Tallien. Casten has already died from the Esscate virus, But that has been our only setback. A new Andalite was saved even more recently. War-prince Alloran-Semitur-Corrass, or better known as the former host body of Visser Three. 

Yes. The foul, half-Andalite abomination was reduced to a Semite-controller by Cassandra. She stole back Alloran, trapping the creature. Unfortunately, she did not bring his morphing powers with her.

Lately, I have been living with the "Animorphs" or humans that recieived the morphing power from Elfangor. They have helped us with many of our missions. 

It was near sunset, but you couldn't see the sun with all the clouds and rain. It was storming with full fury, creating deep furrows in the land, our hoofprints filling with water before the hoof left. I carried Tobias under a sheilding to protect his hawk body from the harsh weather. Hawks as a rule do not like water. And espeicially not this type of weather. 

We were coming back from Haven, soaked, tired, and splattered with mud from the leg down. We were heading in the direction of a cave Tobias once saw. He figured if we got there, we wouldn't be in too much danger.

SCRACK! A line of lightning split the tree into so many splinters. We pushed on, afraid the next one might hit _us_. 

SCHRAC-KA BOOM! Twin bolts hit each other right in front of us. I think it was from the intense heat we fell unconsious, but I don't know. 

All I do know is that when I woke up, There was snow covering me. It had gotten quite cold. Tobias was shivering under my arm. 

And I was staring into a face all too familiar, but completely different. It was shaped like an Andalite, But the fur was colored on blotches of brown and white. It was very shaggy. He helped me up, which allowed me to see the rest. The tail and forelegs were covered in lots of fur, and the same went for the forearms. It led me and the others to a huge cave, as protection against the snow.

Tobias, what is going on?

Welcome to the Ice age.

**Chapter 2**

I hope you are safe. We found it devastating to see such frozen bodies. The stranger said, as the fire burned. His name was Arelli, as I learned. 

The cave led thorugh an intricate network of Boketos, as their speicies was called. They basically had to feed on other animals, since there was very little grass around at this time. 

I decided to step out once the storm died down, huddling myself in one of the blankets. I could see the faint reflection of sun strike the snow as I peered between two trees. 

The weather was warm and inviting. Sandy shores showed hoofprints, aglitter with crushed shells from the tide. Amazing birds flew across the land. 

What is that place?

That is Sakit home zone. Very dangerous. You would not want to go there.

The Sakit are a war speicies. They prey on our network, using every trick they have. You say you want to go home? They may help you, but more likely they think you're new type of Boketo. In a softer tone he added, But do me a favor if you find out.

What?

My daughter, Jenna-li, is trapped there. Bring her back. He fell to his knees, and cradled my hand.

I led the others thourgh the warptunnel to the home zone. It was more comforting than the bleak, cold world. 

Or so I thought. 

Thwap!

Thwap!

I fell to the ground, one of the spears striking my hooves. A plattoon of yellow soldiers stampeded through the sand, stopping at us. 

They were like us, again, But their bodies were more of large horses, Their humanoid parts huge and muscular. They had four fingers on each hand. The blades shimmered like obsidian. The fur was even, but where stalk eyes would usually be, grew black, twirled horns that were pushed back. 

Then I passed out. 

Chapter 3

I awoke in a stone room, where my tail was shackled to the wall, and my hands kept behind my back. I scanned around. Aximili, Raeolin, Alloran. Where were Tobias and Princess Jekkal?

The floor was barely lined in hay. A wretched odor of former prisoners reeked thorough the dirty room. The only clean part was the three holes in the ground where something burned. It left an unexplainable smell. It was plesant, but at the same time, gut wrenching. Two pylons housed candles, the wax dripping onto glass bowls to be used again. A heavy oak door stood as the only way in or out.

It opened. The same type of creature I met on the shore, but decorated with a necklace, containing a green jewel with an eerie glow. He appeared in better health than the others, with a clean coat, polished horns, and jet-black hooves, barely covered in dust. 

So, this is the 'new type'? What creature is blue? Some ocean fish? He crowed in amusement. 

I lashed out, or at least as much as I could with the chains. Where are my friends, you beast!? Tell me, or I'll have your head so fast you won't even notice!

Boy, you are in no position to make threats to me. You shouldn't even care, anyway, because you'll never see them again. With a fluid movement, He grabbed one of the candle bowls, the one almost out, and flung the hot wax at me. I tried not to scream, but it hurt the same. He tended to the fire holes, adding a new stick to each one, then left the room. 

I fell to my knees, starving, in pain, and tired. A familiar fluttering of wings came into view as a bird dove inside. 

Tobias! Aximili cried. 

Yeah. And you guys are in trouble. You already know how the cell is, right? Well, it's designed for a drainage ditch. When it rains, all the water goes to here. And it also gives for easy watch of the cell, so forget breaking out. He pointed to one of the fire holes. Those incense sticks he threw in? Anti-morph gas. Disables it for two hours.

How would they know about morphing?

The way I'm thinkin', Boketos are natural morphers. I saw different skin patterns of the other prisioners. There are tiger patterns, leopard patterns, wolf patterns, and lion patterns. I guess they can change into these animals.

Where's Princess Jekkal? I asked, trembling. I know, it's embarassing to be a warrior and have such fear. But I couldn't help it. We've... grown close during our stay on Earth. 

She's safe, with the other girls. I saw her talking to Jenna-li last time I looked.

Other girls?

Yeah. They take the ladies and put them in a harem. Similar rooms, but they have to perform in the royal court. That guy you were talking to? The Grand Tarka. He only came over because you guys weren't anything they knew about. 

Chapter 4

Jekkal

l laid my lower body on its side, consdering there was no point in standing. Ever since my run-in with Visser Three, I've been exercizing a lot more, and that makes me limber. 

I was in the holding chambers. The gas holes were smouldering, adding color to the room. I had been dressed in billowing clothing, probably because of my coarse fur. Tena-ku, The one who helped me thorugh, had rich, soft fur in a tiger pattern. She did not need any clothing. 

The chains were as cold as bare stone, but they were only for nighttime,as I'd been told. The floor was covered in hay, and most of the circular cell was covered with fabric on the walls, as silky and billowed as Tena-ku's fur. 

In one section, surrounded by a shallow wall, A giant lizard slept. Sepia, as she'd been called, had fangs like a Semite. Her brown and darker brown scales seemed out of place wthin the walls. But despite her looks, she was actually quite gentle, at times nuzzling at a leg just for some comfort. But in the court, she seemed fierce and protective of the Grand Tarka. As though she was afraid of him, since also in her eyes, she seemed reproachful. 

I tried to see if I could get off the wrist shackle, in case it may become useful. but they made sure that wouldn't happen. 

The moonlight cut through the darkness, leaving a glistening on the inner walls of the chamber. I saw as Tobias glid into the room to roost. He wasn't into talking much, but he was tired from keeping eye on the Sakit. I decided to head for sleep then, as well.

I suppose that would be fair treatment for the upstart. I perked back up, wondering of what he was talking about. I couldn't hear what his partner was saying next. Thought-speak works two different ways: one reaches only to a list of people, the other is public. 

You forget, I'd like to see the prisioner suffer a bit. Not just have it be done with. Perhaps, a little torture? (pause) Oh. _That_ way will certainly do. Bring the lady to me. I felt my hearts stop for a moment in recoil. What had we done? Did he know about Tobias? I heard the flutter as he left, almost reading my thoughts. 

The door opened as the sentry moved into the room. Everyone was quaking in horror at what they'd heard. He moved over to me, and eased his tail blade to my neck, in case I tried anything. I could hear the click as the shackle fell. He eased me out, back into the court, which was no longer busy with people. The candles gave an eerie glow to the room. The sentry left, and the Grand Tarka entered. I cocked my tail, in case of any trouble. 

Don't worry, dear. I'm not going to hurt you. I just need a little help. There's a certain prisoner who's taken quite a shine to you. But... I have plans for his disposal. And you're a part of it. I'll even strike a deal. You play along, let me 'example' him, and I'll let you go free.

And just 'who' would this prisoner be? If I could get out, I might be able to free the others. After all, it can't be too difficult. But I felt guilty, using a life for my freedom. 

Don't worry yourself in such a trivial matter. I've got a small place for tonight's stay before you go. he directed me to a small fenced part of the tropical forest, with a gas hole in the center, and an open roof. You can stay here.

Chapter 5

Tashe

I awoke the next morning, with two Sakit dragging me out to a platform. They held me tight, even though I was too tired to struggle. I saw the Tarka come out with a giant lizard. 

The area was lined with Sakit around the edges, except where two cells lay. One was huge. The other looked like it could hold only one person. 

The platform rose from the ground, cut out of the hard rock. I could see a few stakes in the ground, as if to hold someone or some_thing_ to it. It was tilted at an angle, its channels stained with blood.

What do you think of the place so far, ruffian? He barked at me. Almost at the same time a new voice cried.

Let me go!

I focused my stalk eyes first, then snapped my whole head into the scene. Princess Jekkal was being dragged to the platform! She was struggling against the guards, but to no avail. They had her chained to the rock, like some sort of sacrifice. Then it occured to me: that was exactly what they were going to do!

What is the meaning of this?I snapped. I was straining against my captors, overflowing with the urge to take his head off. 

The deal is off, you... Princess Jekkal cried at him, cursing. _Deal_?

Simple. You see your lady, here. If you don't follow my demands, you can also see what's going to happen.

What are they?

A simple race. If you win, I let you, your comrades and your mistress leave. If you don't... He let it hang. One of the guards clapped some type of a collar on my neck.

Those gates are the start and end of the race. That collar will be activated at the enterance gate. From there, you have ten minutes to reach the end, so it's disabled, or it explodes. Even if you do beat the collar, you'll still have to beat me, or you'll be the one on the block. He then tied a piece of cloth around his eyes. I'll blindfold myself, just to make it interesting. Mark....Set....Go!

I bounded off the course, trying to get ahead. But I slipped up, on occasion, in the swamps, while he seemed to know exactly where he was going. _Something is very wrong here_, I thought. 

I picked out a bird with a razor-sharp beak and hurled it at him, in hope it could at least slow him down a bit. But it only cut through the necklace. He stopped and looked around, seeming confused. 

_The stone!_ I cried, _that's how he knew where to go! _I picked it up, and raced ahead. I only had five minutes left to run. 

The stone said it would take seven. 

I ran for every ounce of energy I could, Until I could see the gates. I heard the beeping of the collar as the final seconds drew.

Ten....Nine... Eight....

I was twenty yards away. 

Seven.... SIx...Five....

Ten yards!

Four... Three... two...

I made one final jump. 

One.... 

CLICK! The collar fell off. I was down to my knees at the line. The Grand Tarka crossed the gates, panting. Seize him!

I moved nimbly out of the way, trying to undo her chains. I had them all off, and was heading for the others. We managed to get the chains off when Tobias flew by. 

Catch! I tossed the gemstone to him, grabbing it in his talons. He carried it off into the forest, and I guess he made a trade of some sort, because he carried back a pouch, dropping it at the large cell. 

KA-POOF!

The powder seemed to melt away the wall, giving way to the escaping harem inside. At first, I didn't understand why. One of them, the one with the golden fur and brown mane, or "lion pattern" as Tobias called it, was holding a tan box. 

The Sakit were charging in on us, driving us thorugh the dense jungle, and out into the ocean. It was bad enough when we were going through the ocean. Worse for Tobias, since a hawk in water can't do much. But he did morph to dolphin, something we couldn't do. We made it back to the island, since we figured they'd have thought we drowned. 

They're coming! This way!Tobias cried, back in the air. What could we do? We couldn't morph! Then it occured to me: We could! It's been two hours.

Morph! Now! Jekkal cried. I went to wolf. Raeolin went to Semite, Alloran couldn't do anything, Aximili went to rattlesnake, Tobias went to Hork-bajir, and Princess Jekkal decided not to morph, but the ones the harem did were amazing. 

I could see why Tobias said they were natural morphers. The harem was changing into a half dozen predatory shapes, as told by their skin patterns. 

The Sakit charged in! Claws, fangs, tails, and blades whipped around like a madman's dream. We got some good hits, but tail blades were tail blades. After a good two minutes, everyone had been hit at least ten times. 

Retreat!

We ran for the tunnel yard — where all the tunnels lead to other destinations. Each of the six harem girls pressed their hand on the tan box, then put it in a satchel. Here. Your friend said you have warriors on the other side. Take this as a token of our thanks. They will know how to use it. 

I grabbed it as we went back to the North American zone. There was a blizzard happening as we got back. 

Keep running. Maybe we can get home. Tobias suggested, although I have no clue of how he knew about time travel. We said our goodbyes to Jenna-li and Arelli. Then we turned left from the cave, and kept running. I don't remember how long. I wasn't paying attention. The coldness of the air, the blinding snow that fell, stinging my eyes. I was beginning to weaken from the fact I hadn't eaten in two days.

SCKRACKA-BOOM!

I ran and ran through the rain, To stop at the cave's muddy floor. I began to wonder: Had I hallucinated? It seemed almost impossible. Then I glanced back around the cave. Jekkal was still wearing the silky clothing. I carried a small pouch with the tan box inside. 

No. It happened. And I tried to remember the tiger girl's last words:They will know how to use it.

**Chapter 6**

I met with the Animorphs in the forest, Telling them about our tale. I pointed out the part about the tan box, and that Tiger girl said they would know.

"Maybe It's like the morphing cube, but different." Jake suggested. 

She told me before. It what they use to get morphs. I guess she expects you to pick one out from the box. Princess Jekkal noted. 

"Sounds good." Marco replied. They each chose different ones from the box, until one was left. Alloran took that one, regaining some morphing power, but not enough for Andalite standards. 

"Well?" Rachel asked."Let's do it!" It was bizzare. I mean, At one point or another, we've all done and seen the changes from human to Andalite. But now it wasn't Andalite. It wasn't exactly an Earth animal, either. That just made it seem even weirder. I'll explain on Cassie, since she's the _estreen_.

The first change I saw was the skin. The luxurious fur sprouted out on her, since she had chosen the tiger pattern. Her fingers split from four to six. The forelegs grew from her chest. The twin stalk eyes sprouted up. And at he last possible moment- shloop! -came the tail. The others were just finishing up their morphs. 

Alloran's was the most startling change- because it was so similar. All he did was shrink down a bit and change fur. 

Wow! This is so cool!Rachel exclaimed. I wasn't surprised. Andalite, or even remotely Andalite senses are usually better than humans. And I'm sure they've never done anything like it. 

Now try the other one.Aximiil said.

Other what?

You acquired a "double morph" creature. Use it. They went to the second form. Alloran ended up with the dog, Cassie-the tiger, Jake-the leopard, Marco- the black panther, Rachel- the jaguar, and Tobias- the wolf. 

Cool. Marco exclaimed.

Quite. "Double morphs" are the only exception to the two hour rule. However, few are as useful, or availiable. Jekkal explained. 

What do you mean, "the exception"? Jake demanded.

Prince Jake, You remember when Cassie was trapped and she reset the clock? Same thing. For some reason, Aximili still refers to Jake as his prince, even while Princess Jekkal is here. I don't understand why, but I haven't complained. 

They quickly morphed back, and even they fell over, despite their usual balance on two legs. "Okay, now I know how Ax feels about that morph of his." Marco joked around. 


	7. The Forest

**Chapter 1**

My name is Cassie. 

That's it. Nothing more that'll help you find me. We can't trust you. We can't trust anyone. 

I know it seems cruel, but we have to. You see, The Yeerks are among us. They are a parasite, like a flea or a tick. Instead of just taking some blood, they take your freedom. They take your body. They take total control.

I know. For a few hours, I was a controller. Fortunately, she took her old body back. 

They are taking over Earth in secret. They are even hiding a huge Yeerk pool under our city. Of course, if you are one, you already knew that. 

We're the only ones who resist them and actually win a few battles. Me, the animal nut, Marco, the comic, Jake, who's our leader, his cousin, Rachel, who is a fashion freak/warrior, and Tobias, our red-tailed hawk (and Elfangor's kid). Then there are the Andalites: Rae, the norm, Tashe, the one with the technology brains, Jekkal, the princess(as in rank), Ax, the _aristh_, and more recently, Alloran, who the only thing we know about him is that he was Visser Three's host, so he knows about Yeerk secrets. 

More about me? Okay, picture a kid, about average height for me, wearing mismatched clothes covered in various animal poop, trying to get an angry wolf to take his pills. 

Yeah. I'm basically a lot into animals, since my dad runs the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, and my mom's head vet at the Gardens. So I learn a lot about animals, how to take care of them, and so on. So learning what they do or how they mate or whatever doesn't really gross me out too much.

That doesn't make fighting any easier. 

Chapter 2

Doing fine, but remember, It's still your first time. You've a lot to learn.

I'm not used to this tail yet, all right? Ever since Tobias found out he was Elfangor's son, the others have tried to help out a bit. The Andalites even lined him up with an Andalite morph to use. It's what their human morphs are to us, except this time, You see bits of Rae, Tashe, and Ax in there. 

It's smaller than Ax, since Tobias's younger, (I've no clue just how old Ax is, but older than we are.) But he still looks like any other Andalite. He's had some new things to deal with. I mean, there's the stalk eyes, the hooves, and the extra fingers. But the single biggest thing is the tail.

That's what they were working on. Jekkal was helping him get through the basics of tail fighting, but she was still going easy on him, acting like she was trying to teach a kid to read. I guess since Elfangor and Jekkal were dating before he died, she has to act like a stepmom to him. You could almost tell, even if you were just watching on the log like we were, and didn't know what each Andalite look was like. 

Keep your eyes on mine. My main eyes! Keep contact with my main eyes, your stalk eyes on my tail. She sighed, Try not to concentrate so much. Only instinct can tell when to strike. 

FWAPP! Tobias moved in on his target.

SHOOP! FWAPP! FWAPP!

Jekkal knocked the blade away, and threw two blows of her own. One was right in front of his stalk eyes, and the other stopped a millimeter from his throat. 

Not bad. You're just lucky it'll only matter in fighting Hork-Bajir. She relaxed her tail. I'd only seen tail fighting done once, and it wasn't for too long. She turned away and ran into the forest. The others followed her. Tobias moved calmly over to a small maple. 

FWAPP! He sliced the tree in half, then ran off in the other direction. I guess he wasn't feeling too good. 

I morphed into wolf and ran off to catch him. Look, Tobias, it was just your first time. You can't expect to be perfect. 

I know. But it still hurts. I mean, If things haven't been the way they were, you know, if all Semites fell to the Yeerks, if Visser Three never lost Alloran... We'd be in deep trouble. You heard what she said. 

She was just trying to be a teacher. He started demorphing. The first thing that happened was that his arms transformed into wings, giving him that _A Wrinkle in Time_ look. Then he shrank down, while his front legs withered away, so he didn't fall over. He stared back at me. Wow. That was cool, for the fact it just happens. He still had an Andalite head and tail, which disappeared in ten seconds, replaced by pure hawk. 

Cassie...I can't really explain it. I mean, I've been through a lot lately. First I find out who my parents are, the Andalite morph, And now I'm... I don't know. I'm starting to look like you and Jekkal with this morphing. I'm serious. You should have seen it earlier today. He flew off. 

What did he mean, look more like Jekkal and me? He should be glad! I mean, we were the best at morphing. 

I met back up with the others at the outskirts. "Bird-boy's ticked?" Marco asked.

"No, just frustrated, That's all." 

I headed back home, ate some dinner, did a little homework, all that was normal. 

What happened next wasn't.

**Chapter 3**

Cassie? 

I jerked. I know it's bad for security, but no one saw me do it. 

Cassie?! It was Ax. We need you. Tobias got in a massacre! 

I jerked open the window. "What?" I had to keep it down so my parents wouldn't hear. 

There was this flock of crows that were going after Tobias's dinner and-

"Okay!" I quickly put my shoes back on and ran out. I saw a huge flock of crows attacking him.

Not trying to take his food. Attacking him. They were ripping feathers out like a lawn mower. 

"Get away from him!" The crows stopped. Then they turned toward me.

"Woah!" I ran up for the barn. I tried to shut the door, but they were coming too fast! I grabbed the mucking rake and flung it around. That scared him off. 

I went back out to Tobias and a now human Ax, cradling the bird in his arms. Tobias looked like one of those chickens you see at the grocery, mainly because he had every feather plucked out of him except around the head. 

STUPID CROWS! I mean, I've had a mob of 'em try to steal a kill, but never pluck me! When I find that pack, I'm gonna... He waddled along to the barn, grumbling and cursing all the way. Ax decided he should head back out into the forest. I followed Tobias back to the barn. He went into one of the open horse stalls and morphed into a human. I showed him where there was an extra set of clothes. 

"Something's wrong."

"Yeah. I try to get a decent meal and then five crows slam me during my dive. Then this huge cluster surrounds me and-"

"Wait! I thought Ax said they were coming to take your food."

"He came after I was on the ground and the second group came, so that's what he probably thought. "

"Okay, but that's off the subject. I'm talking about crows don't act like that."

"Maybe it's something new. I mean, there were too many for it to be a trick from you guys. And yet..."

You're right. It was too many. Raeolin flew overhead and roosted in the rafters. Tobias, I think I know who they were. There was a pack of wolves, twenty of them, and they were chasing me. I went down a mile in the river, they were paddling behind. I jumped out, tried every trick I had, they were still following. Then they stopped. One hour, fifty-five minutes after the ordeal started. I morphed to Merlin, and flew to here. That was thirty-five minutes ago. 

"What does a pack of wolves have to do with the crows that plucked me?"

They are the same. 

**Chapter 4**

"WHAT!?"

It's the only logical explanation. Before we got any further, I called over an emergency meeting. I figured this was big enough news, so everyone should be on alert. Everyone was in the barn, in some shape or form. The animorphs were in the barn, getting ready to fly off. Tobias and the Andalites were already in Canadian goose morph so not to bring about attention that we were a group. I had a female who was shot in the wing, so we all acquired her. Including Tobias, although she bit him for putting his wing on her. We left our clothes under one of the tack boxes. 

The first change came suddenly, with out any warning.

SPROOT!

"Ahhh!" My neck suddenly shot up like a ladder. It was already covering in feathers, while my face bulged out to become the smooth head and beak. I had it so it was the first thing to change, but it was still creepy. I was a girl with a four-foot long neck and a goose head! 

It was kinda cool. I could turn my head and bend my neck in almost any direction I wanted to!

Oh, no! Dad's coming! We ducked into the empty stall. The others were about halfway done and I was over the door when Dad came in. 

He saw seven not-too-happy geese.

HONKHONKHONKHONKHONKHONKHONKHONK- 

"HEY!" He ran out of the barn. I know we shouldn't have, but we needed privacy. And I didn't trust my dad not to look. 

Are you done yet? Jekkal asked.

Sure. Let's fly. 

We hopped along and flew out. We needed a morph that wouldn't be too susceptible, but also allowed a close watch. 

The goose had okay senses. Good eyesight. Good nose. Low ground speed, but excellent flying. That V formation they do? Gives them great mileage. 

So, what's up, Cassie? You didn't call us all here just for trying out a new morph. Jake said. 

I wish it were. I think the Yeerks just flattened our chances of winning. 

How? This time it was Rachel.

Remember when our biggest problem with the Yeerks was Visser Three, because of his morphing? 

What does tha- Jekkal started, but ended up finishing her own question. They can morph! 

WHAT? 

That's impossible! 

You're nuts!

It's the only thing that could make sense. She replied.

Hold it!Jake cried. He went down to an elm. Awww, man!

You don't think- Tobias remarked.

They found it! I demorphed and looked around for any sign of it. "It's gone! The blue box! It's gone!"

**Chapter 5**

How could it be any good? They can't morph. They would need one of us to do it. All it would do is stop us from passing it on to anybody else. Marco argued, still demorphing. 

No. You remember, we had to give powers back to Alloran, because Cassandra didn't bring them along. Visser Three still had them, but they were useless. Now, if they do have the Escafil device, who knows how many Yeerks can morph. She almost seemed to have an edge of distress to her voice. She gave me a worried look, with a glare, as though it was all my fault. 

But I thought the device-

"Nope. we found it again in an earlier mission. This was were we hid it." 

So. we have about twenty morphing Yeerks around. I think we have to find out where the box is, get it back, and get rid of their morphers. Tobias summed. 

"No. That box is the biggest weapon in the galaxy. They probably have it stashed up in the mothership , And you can bet they've given it to the Yeerk elite." Marco noted. Great. Our biggest power over the Yeerks was that we could morph. Now they could go do the same thing and we wouldn't be able to tell. Except they had a tendency to morph something in packs, since any single animal could be easily defeated by a tail blade. 

"Okay. We'd better go scout out the situation in Semite morph. Big enough to fight, fast enough to escape. You guys need to stay as Andalites. Tobias, You can decide which one you want to morph. " I said. 

I quickly made the changes, and ran out into the woods, looking for wolves, deer, or just anything that grouped together. There! a herd of deer. Except it was all males, and the antlers were unusually similar.

Guys, I said, trying not to attract attention.That's them. That herd of deer.

Are you posit-

WHUMPF! The leader (Very difficult to tell apart form the rest, except during the fight) Ran his antlers straight into Alli. Green blood oozed out of the wounds. 

AHHHhhhh!the last part sounded like a whine, as though it sank into vital organs. 

He's hurt! Jekkal rushed over to his side, seeing if there was any real damage besides puncture. Forget the deer! He needs help!

Serves him right. Jekkal sprang up and charged for the leader. Aximili charged, too. We closed in as backup, because we knew who it was. Even with the change in his voice, you could tell who he was. 

Visser Three.

**Chapter 6**

You... you piece of filth! I'll make sure there isn't enough of you left to shoot with a dracon beam! Ax shouted. He has this pact of revenge that he has to kill Visser Three to make up for the Visser killing Elfangor. 

Unfortunately, They weren't getting the chance. Deer move just as fast as Andalites, maybe more. So not only could they keep out of range, but they also went in antlers first, which didn't have the vital spot we needed.

I said it before, forget the deer! Alloran'll die if he doesn't get attention _now_! Jekkal shouted, the others turned on her signal. I think Jekkal is kinda like Jake in these situations, shooting out orders like a machine gun. 

We hurried over and picked him up at different sections. I kept his upper body high so blood wouldn't be so much there. But I could see one of the hearts losing blood. At least I think it was a heart. I guess Andalites have more than one. It would make sense.

_Great_, I said to myself, _holding him up won't do a thing if his heart is hurt._

I ran out to a small clearing. The Andalites' campsite, actually. I laid him down on his side and sent Jake to get the tools and bring them here. Actually, I would've gone, but Jekkal said she might need my help understanding human medical supplies. 

You might not want to see this. She sent the others away. 

"Jekkal, what's going on? I could've gotten the supplies and still helped you."

No. I need immediate help keeping this heart from losing all the blood. Most doctors aren't _estreens_ for nothing.

"What?"

Listen. There's a special extra chromosome that not only gives estreens their talent, but also as a sealer in surgery. It's too subtle for humans to tell, and too little of it for me to seal alone. I need the extra energy, Cassie, along with your help. She grabbed my hands tight, over the unconscious Alli. Focus. Let everything else slip from your mind.

It felt... strange. That's the only word for it. For a minute, I could swear I saw the little jolt, like a tiny needle, patch up the wound. Even with my eyes closed, I could still see.

Thank you.

I opened my eyes again. The heart was pumping normally, with only an inch-long scar where the cut was. 

Jake showed up out of the bushes, carrying the case my dad keeps in the pickup. "Well? Is he okay?"

"We still have to patch these wounds and make sure there's no infection. Now pass me the gauze." I checked around for anything else, but there really wasn't much to it. I woke Alli up after I bandaged him up so it looked like he was wearing a tank top, to put it in easy-to-understand terms.

Alloran? Are you okay?

Am I okay? You're asking the Andalite who lived with a Yeerk in his head for twenty-one years, who dealt with the horrors on the Hork-Bajir world, am I okay?

He has his sarcasm back. That's a good sign. Tobias fluttered down to us, having demorphed already. 

Chapter 7

Hold still! This is a precision cut, and I don't want you to need another bandage. It had been one week since our run-in with the deer. We would have struck back sooner, but Alli had his wounds. Besides, we couldn't think up a decent idea anyway. 

Figures. I've been through everything else in this war. May as well get the medical bit over with. after she cut the bandages off, we all headed for the barn and tried to decide what to do next.

"Do like we did with the Pemalite crystal. Bust in, grab it, get out." Rachel suggested.

"No way. We almost ended up dead that time. How about Tobias does that Yeerk morph of his-"

I am not doing that morph _again_! sneered Tobias just as a little white drop landed on Marco. 

"Yuck!"

"Good one." Rachel, of course. 

Personally, what's wrong with the original method? Find that little band of Conmorphs, get rid of them, and grab the box?

Good in theory, but not reality. You forget, we tried that one and almost got Alloran killed. Aximili spoke up. Actually... I do have a plan. The way I see it, they would be keeping the Escafil device up in the mothership. We could morph known controllers, try to pass for them, and bring the box back here were we can hide it. They would also have some idea of where the "Conmorphs" are posting base. 

"That doesn't sound too bad at all." I mused. It seemed easy enough.

"So. We find our little band, get some morphs, and hope we can steal that box." Jake summed. 

If it was that simple.

**Chapter 8**

They're camping out in the blade ship? Tobias pondered at the sight. Yeerks don't exactly like to rough it, do they?

I don't think most of them would mind. But Visser Three would. Jekkal noted.

Great. We need to knock out at least ten Conmorphs, go find the blue box, and get back under the limit and without being found out. Fine. As long as it's nice and simple. Marco joked. At least, I think it was a joke. Very dry humor.

That group of Hork-Bajir looks like they're getting some dinner. Do you guys think we could knock them out?

Will this work? Jekkal flew by us, dracon beam in foot. We were all in bird of prey morph, outside of the small clearing. 

Perfect. Let's go. Rachel was the biggest, so she had the job of aiming it on stun to stop the Yeerks. Ten minutes later, There were twenty Hork-Bajir, ten in red uniforms, the other half unconscious.

A blue-yellow head peered through the bushes, "Come back now. We need to dock with the mothership in ten minutes." Visser Three sneered. We marched into the blade ship, no one the wiser about what would happen next. 

"Well? Get to your station, idiot!" he turned for the bridge. Then he stopped, and turned for me again, this time, fangs open. "Andalite!"

Yikes! I snapped for the floor, giving the Visser plenty of room to fly over me. 

I tried to head back for the way out, but I was confused. Which way?

I was in a three-way corridor. One would lead the way out. The other would take me deeper into the blade ship. 

Left! 

I ran, Dracon beams at my heels. I saw an engine, along with what looked like a ship's dracon beam. I saw it.

The blue box! 

I groaned. There were almost a dozen Controllers that would be here in two minutes and I'd just found the blue box. How was I going to get out?

Oh. 

I needed to do the change quickly. If any of the Yeerks saw me, I was toast. See, they think we are a group of Andalite guerrillas. If they ever found out we were kids, they'd have us in a heartbeat. 

I waited for them to come. 

And I hoped the Visser was with them.

**Chapter 9**

Now, normally I wouldn't want the Visser with them, but he would know what I had become. He would keep them back, or if I was lucky, bargain with me so I could grab the box and go. 

I looked to the entrance. Nine Hork-Bajir and ten Semites (the Visser being one of them,) surged into the engine. My friends had decided to play along and act like normal controllers. When they entered, what they saw wasn't a wolf, a Semite, or any fearsome species.

They saw a skunk. 

For about ten seconds everyone stared at me, then broke out in laughter. The Semites sounded like a clique at school with a higher pitch. The Hork-Bajir laughter was harsher. They tried to hold it in for a few seconds, since the Visser was not laughing, but they couldn't help it. 

"What are you laughing about?"

"Vi-he-he-he-sser, You told us this was a tough Andalite, and he-sspe hemphh! I eat those for breakfast! He-emphh!" She was obviously trying to stop, but it wasn't working. 

"Quit laughing! And he's more dangerous than he looks." That shut everyone up. But I could still hear small snickers running through the crowd. 

Quite. Visser, you know what this body can do. Now let me leave with the device or I will use it.

His eyes narrowed dangerously to my threat. I could see the impact it made on him. His muscles relaxed. Hie eyes almost left a stare of mercy, but it was halfway impossible. "Fine. But I warn you, once you step out of this ship, we liftoff. If you're not away from the discharge by then... "

We walked away from the engines. I turned off for the exit, One of the Hork-Bajir staying behind with me so I got off. But he was still worried. Close one, Cassie. Jake replied, Very close. I waddled, with the box on my back, to the exit, followed ten seconds later with eight more Hork-Bajir running down the hall. One scooped me up. 

C'mon! We gotta blow! Rachel replied. We ran out the door, making sure I was the last one to leave. We were about twenty feet away when the ship flew off. Jekkal was demorphing and Tashe was checking the box to see if there were any bugs.

He peeled off something on one side of the cube and sliced it into pieces with his other wrist blade. Okay. It's safe.

We had already left the uniforms behind and draconed them. As it turned out, the trip to the mother ship was for Kandrona rays, so the Hork-Bajir were free. The Andalites directed them over to Haven, while the rest of us went home. 

"Okay, so we didn't get rid of the Conmorphs, but we took down half of them. And we stole the box, so they can't make more. " Jake summed.

"Good enough for me. Today, anyway." I muttered. 

"Maybe so, but we still have ten to deal with. Including the Visser. How are we gonna do that? Plus, those Hork-Bajir still have the power and those morphs. Do we help them use them, or not?"

I say we don't. They're a peaceful species. They don't need to get in this war any further then they already have, unless they wanted to. And to answer your first question, you handle the other nine. Ax'll see to the Visser personally.


	8. The Youth

****

Chapter 1

My name is Jekkal-Corlen-Fahlo.

I am the only Andalite doctor on Earth. Although with only human tools for my use, very little of my studies come in handy. 

I need to explain. Earth is under attack from the Yeerks. They are a parasitic species that ties into your brain and takes control. Only we Andalites stand in their way.

Well, not just Andalites. You see, Before Elfangor died... It's so hard to even talk about it... he gave five humans the power to morph. They've had some success in defeating them so far, but it mustn't have been enough. Because the Ellimist sent us here. He sent us to these humans and Aximili to help. 

The four of us. Me, I've already told. Raeolin-Ashul-Tallien, an arrogant fighter pilot, Tashe-Kelane-Fahleen, an excellent technologist, Casten-Tellon-Harelin, a... I don't know- I never learned much about him before he died. 

Then there are the others. Aximili-Essgarrouth-Isthill, an _aristh_ who needs to be promoted-he's done enough-, Alloran-Semitur-Corrass, Visser Three's old host who acts half his age, Jake, leader of the Animorphs, Marco, the comedian, Rachel, the warrior, Cassie, the human veterinarian, and Tobias-Sirinal-Xertos, Elfangor's son and _nothlit_.

Note the 'son'. Elfangor had a kid in-between the time when we thought he was dead. I don't really hold it against him, since space-time wise, it didn't happen. It's not all that bad with Tobias around. He's even saved my life once. 

I'm still getting used to Earth. So I wasn't used to what usually happens. I woke up with snow up to my waist. I was shivering. Tobias? Do you know how to survive the cold mornings? 

If it makes you happy, I'm cold too. I'll try to see if Cassie has something you guys can wear. About a half-hour later, he showed up with a huge pile of artificial skin that seemed to be walking. 

What is that? Alloran had just woken up. 

"Come on. My dad made me wear all this stuff to get out the door, let alone go into the barn." Cassie explained. She handed out bundles of artificial skin. Some of it went on the lower body- some on the upper. After about a half-hour of configuring and fastening them down, we had the blankets and coats on. 

A little bulky, but it works. 

Come on, Jekkal. You said we needed to check on Haven today. Besides, we need to make sure they're okay. Over a third of that village is cold blooded. Alloran commented, It's already 11:00, Earth time. 

I headed off with him. It took much longer than it usually did, since the snowfall was picking up, and it was difficult to move through it all. But we made it. 

And we couldn't believe it.

**Chapter 2**

What the...! 

The campground was covered in snow at least five feet deep. The ivy covering must have withered away, giving holes for the snow to fall through. 

Cassandra! Anybody! WAKE UP! 

"Say what, Jekkie?" A white head, undistinguishable from the snow around it, but could still be seen, popped out of the small 'hill' that in reality was were all the Semites slept. She seemed drowsy.

We just need to check up on the area. Make sure there's no problems, that there hasn't been any Yeerk activity, etc. 

"None of that. Not for miles." One of the Hork-bajir had been awake and listening to the conversation. She was coming back with a bundle of bark in her arms. Bark is the staple of their natural diet. As far as I can tell, they seem to like the maple over pine.

Any problems with the snow- Alloran tried to ask.

FOOMPHF!

FOOMPHF!

A white sphere, not that well constructed, hit Alloran under the chin. Another hit me on my shoulder. 

Huh? I saw them: a small group of kids that were making the spheres out of snow and throwing them around.

I grabbed a huge chunk of the snow, placed it on the flat of my blade, and hurled it over to where they were standing.

POOMT!

"Hey!" 

"So that's how you're gonna play, huh? Take this!" Another child said.

"You take it!" Cassandra cried.

In about five minutes every Semite and Hork-bajir had gotten on one side or the other and sent a barricade of 'snowballs' into the other side and back. We were getting in some good hits, but the children had better aim. In the end, we were covered in snow worse than we were in the morning. 

On the way back, I tried to shake it off, but most of the snow that hit me clung to my fur. 

Little upstarts. Alloran growled. 

Yeah, right. I seem to remember Selain talking about you before they split up the _arisths_. You've pulled worse stunts than that. He blushed, although with as cold as it was, you couldn't tell. 

His embarrassment disappeared quickly. Just the same, it's war. They need to accept it and help fight. 

How? I insinuated. He may be considered a war-prince, but he was disgraced, which made him no more powerful than I was. 

He kept silent the rest of the way back. 

**Chapter 3**

When we got back, everyone was awake. The Animorphs were also there, waiting for us to come back. 

"Well?" Jake pressed.

It's okay as far as anyone's concerned. There was a small scuffle, though. 

"Small? You're caked in snow."

I wiped away some of the excess around my main eyes. Well, they had more Hork-bajir on their side, and they are stronger. Besides, Semites can't aim. 

"Aim?!" Everyone's face turned to us. Then they laughed. "Okay, a snowball fight is a little beside the point. We have a bigger problem on hand. Erek should be here anytime now." 

Erek, as far as I've been told, is a Pemalite android who passes among the humans and the Yeerks. He usually brings useful information to the Animorphs, but I have never seen him. 

"Hi." A new teenager entered the small clearing. He was almost as dark as Cassie, but looked like a taller Marco otherwise. 

Erek, I assume.

"That's him, all right. So, what'cha got this time?"

He glaced over to us, unsure, and then spoke. "There's a new type of experimental dracon beam being tested. If it works, the Yeerks could easily stop any rebellion a- nd still use them for hosts. "

Well? What does it do? Aximili asked. 

He shrugged. "According to the plans, it's a Sound Dracon. It sends a concentrated series of sound waves to the target. It's supposed to be a paralyzer, so the victim can be dragged to a Yeerk pool within the hour. They've hidden it in the collage's drama department."

There was not much more to the conversation, so Erek quickly made himself scarce. We tried to discuss on it. 

"The drama department? Sheesh, I would've thought the Yeerks had more brains for hiding that!" Marco snapped. 

That may be why. We're so used to high security mesures, they might be trying lower ones because we wouldn't even _think_ about it. I vested. Cassie and Rachel nodded. The others just stared at me like I had a Yeerk on my head. 

Sometimes, you scare me. Aximili noted.

Ax-man, you scare all of us when you go nuts at the mall. Or at least get every- one giggling. Tobias rebutted. He had a point-I only went once to the mall without the humans, because Aximili said he could teach us well enough.

Well. Although I did like the food places, even I tried not to let my morph get the best of me. I went one other time with Jake: he seemed much more helpful.

"Okay, back to the point: How the heck do we handle this Sound Dracon? According to Erek, that's pretty powerful stuff."

Spy it out.

**Chapter 4**

We moved out the next day towards the looming building. It was still over two and a half feet deep, so we went in raptor morph through an open window. 

Demorph behind those curtains. The place looks empty, but we still need to watch out. Jake noted.

I headed towards the curtain and began to demorph. Two minutes later, We had five Andalites, two wolves, one tiger, one gorilla, and a Hork-Bajir examining the area. 

I take it back- they _did_ have more brains for hiding it. Marco said, We've been searching for an hour and we still haven't found it.

It's actually been only fifty-two minutes, but you're right. I'm beginning to think maybe Erek didn't convey the message correctly.

Bull. Erek's a machine. A smart one, but a machine anyway. He can't screw up. Besides, he's got good sources. If he says they hid it here, they hid it here.

TSEEEYYYAAAA!

Ahhhhhh! My brain was on fire! I grabbed my head with my hands, hoping to block the noise. But it didn't help. 

The Sound Dracon! That must be causing it! I swiveled my stalk eyes around to see a human holding a dracon with the tip similar to a blade ship engine. 

"Andalites! Well, the Visser will be glad about this!" She spoke. I would have gone and sliced the weapon away, but the pain!....

By chance, Jake was only a few yards away, but it was enough. I saw him shrinking.

Don't demorph! I cried.

I'm not. He stopped, now only as big as a normal earth cat. He got back up and moved toward me. He rubbed against my right foreleg.

Jake, This is not the time or the place. Come on! You need to regain control!

But Jekkie, I am. Quit worrying, lady.

What? I scooped him up. I looked around the rest of the stage area. Marco had also grown noticably smaller, Rachel and Cassie were okay, Tobias wasn't any different, but the others...

They were children!

Aximili? Raeolin? Tashe? Alloran?

They peered at me quizzically. I wanna leave. She mean! Raeolin accused, pointing a finger at the woman.

"Hmmph. A side effect, no doubt." She sneered. She had stopped projecting the Sound Dracon. 

I headed over to Marco and scooped him up with the other arm, but he moved away and clung around my neck, riding on the back. If you want to keep that head of yours, I suggest you let us leave. 

"Fine. You'll need to come back to us, anyway." She showed me the backstage exit. I ran the rest of the way to the forest, the others not far behind. 

Chapter 5

Jekkal, are you sure you don't know what happened?

You've asked me that question fifty times already, Tobias, and my answer's still no. Now, if you're finished asking, here's one for you: How come you three didn't end up younger? We had reached a small shed in the forest, and tried to explain to Marco and Jake how to demorph. I know it sounds dumb, but they were too young to remember.

"Who knows? All we know is the boys are looking and acting like a bunch of kids." Rachel said.

You know that doesn't make sense. If it just affected boys, how come I'm not acting like an idiot? 

Well... It could be that the sound rays cause the effect on the male chromosome. If I recall, your Hork-bajir morph was female, which made you the exception. I sighed. In other words, when she fired, it must have caused that side effect. I think we need to grab the Sound Dracon to reverse it. 

I needed some energy. I needed it in the worst way. Not only did the Sound rays tire me out, but I swear I could hear an echo of the rays, except this time it seemed softer, more soothing. I would've fallen asleep right then, but I was too piqued by what happened.

"Okay, but can we just rest? We need to deal with those six little moppets right now." Cassie commented. 

I don't think so. About the rest, I mean. That's just the aftereffects of the Sound rays. Is there anything we can use to stay awake?

"Bring everyone to the barn. I'll go see if we can get some coffee out there. It's no solution, but it'll do." 

One problem: Alloran doesn't have a human morph. Tobias ponted out. 

"Fine. Wait here. I'll be back." About ten minutes later, she came back with a two-colored cylinder and a few cups. "Here. Jekkal, Tobias, you might want to morph human for this one. " 

I drank the concoction. It was very good, but quite hot. Still,it did the job: I became more alert after two refills. 

"How come you don't get as keyed up about taste as Ax does?" Cassie asked.

"A drawback to being an _estreen_: I don't let my morph get the best of me."

I glanced back to the boys. They had all fallen asleep over each other. _Lucky_, I thought, _They don't have to worry about the war at that age._

I demorphed. Okay, we need to grab the Sound Dracon, reverse the process, and they'll be back to normal. Simple enough.

"NO." I turned all eyes toward Jake. He must have been listening to our conversation. "Don't wanna."

"Don't wanna what?" Rachel cooed. 

"Don't wanna go back. Hurt my ears."

"But you need to."

He began to cry. 

Chapter 6

He started crying, and then Marco joined in. Fortunately, Andalites can't cry all that well, but two were more than enough. 

Stop it! Stop it! Then I lost control. SHUT UP! That paused them for a few seconds, but then they came back loud as ever. 

"Cripes. There's got to be some way to make them be quiet. " Fortunately, they were dozing off again, so we took advantage of the silence.

Okay. Tobias, You stay here and keep an eye on them. We'll try to go back and bring the Sound Dracon with us. 

Why me?

Because I think your only female morph was the Hork-bajir. If any of us are hit, we can demorph. But you...

Okay, okay. I take care of the kids. he was morphing into his Andalite body, so he could keep a sharp lookout for trouble, namely in the form of four Andalites and two humans. 

We flew back into the Department building and looked again for the Sound Dracon, This time in human morph since we were in plain sight to any human who walked by. 

"See anything? Tha-ing? Ing?" 

"Nothing but a crossbow." Rachel replied.

"What's a crossbow? Some type of weapon?"

"Come over here and see." I looked over her shoulder. It could almost have bee n a Dracon beam, but it had a springboard pulled taut by a wire, which was held in place because a slender thorn with barbs was held by a clamp. 

It looked normal, until I saw the tip. An arched blade.

"That's it! Now we need to get it back to the others so we can-"

The others are here.

"Tobias? I had to do a combination call, since I was fairly sure he couldn't hear my human voice all too well. 

Yeah. There was a wolf pack that was sniffing around, acting like they were looking for some thing. I had everyone morph to Canadian goose. We're on the backstage.

"Good. I've got the Sound Dracon." I went over there to confirm and to make sure I was aiming right. But I still needed a way to reverse the process. 

Okay, I admit it- I'm no expert on Yeerk weapondry. You'd have to ask Tashe for that. But I had a fairly decent idea of how to handle this. _Reverse polarity and change the frenquncy. Or is it change the polarity and reverse the frequency? _I was too confused and worn out to remembe-

Wait. That wasn't just worn out. I was getting sleepier. 

I turned around. Right behind me were four Semites, five humans, and the Visser, holding a Sound Dracon. 

Chapter 7

"Well, well, well. This is certainly a surprise. Eight bandits? Hmmph. I'd thought there were more."

"Leave. Now." I was demorphing, hoping maybe I could slice the small band of controllers. By now my fur was beginning to show. 

"No. But just to make it interesting, I'll give you one shot at me."

_It has to be a trick,_ I thought. I eased my hand toward the trigger. As my last two fingers were splitting apart, I fired.

TWANG! 

THUNK!

"AHHHH!" The Visser cried as the thorn drove itself into one arm. "You idiot! I thought you said that weapon was a prop!" He sneered to one of his henchmen. 

"I thought it was, Visser. This body didn't know." 

"I'll deal with you later."

TSSEEEYAAAA!

Ahhhhh! This blast hurt as much as the first one. I was almost completely Andalite, but I was tottering on my two hind legs. I had my tail, My stalk eyes, everything except my front legs and the section of body that separated them.

I tried standing up, rejecting the pain. But it clawed at me like a wild beast. I had to stop demorphing. It was hurting too much! 

I fell back into a pile of artificial skin. Most of it covered me. I tried to get up, using my hands to help. A translucent green piece was on my head. 

"Quit fumbling. You've a Yeerk with your name on it."

I dug deeper into the clothing. The skin gave me cover, but I had no clue how lo- ng. There wasn't enough time!

No, wait. maybe there was. For one morph. 

I couldn't see the changes, but I could hear them. Hear it as my tail blade withered away. Hear the soft crinkling of my skin flaps. Hear the liquid poison filling my sacs. 

I prepared for the soft, killing mind to appear. It preferred the clothing- reminded it of company. But it's senses were noticing further out. 

I poked my head and hood out of the pile. 

Click. 

I didn't hear any sound this time, but a more soothing tune. My consciousness was drifting away.

Drifting...

HUHROWWR! A grizzly bear was coming straight for them!

TSSEEEYAAAA!

Ahh! She was shrinking rapidly. Oh, great. Now I've got a cub morph, and that's just plain useless.

You're okay otherwise?

Yeah, But I can't demorph here!

Don't worry. You did plenty.

Chapter 8

I lunged! 

I grabbed a hold on the Visser's neck, but it was too big for me to suffocate him. I grabbed his wrist, hoping to take the Sound Dracon from him. 

Got it! I fiddled around with the circuitry, until I was reasonably sure about it. Here goes.

TSSSEEEYAA!

I had to keep my finger on the trigger for the effects. I immediately saw six little geese grow larger, and a bear grow back to adult. 

I flew off the visser, adjusted my wings, And turned for him. I quickly reset the Sound Dracon. 

TSSSEEEYAAAA!

FLUMP! They collasped, but they ran for the exit, demorphing and growing younger at the same time.

Drat.

C'mon, Jekkal, we did it. Now can we just go home and get rid of this thing?

Get rid of what thing?

Alloran!

What's going on? One minute I remember looking for that Sound Dracon and the next I'm a Canadian Goose looking at you holding it!

Oh, not much. We told him later what happened, of course. But we had one more stop before we headed home. 

Cassandra?

"Over here, girl."

We have a Sound Dracon for you to use if you do need protection. Just aim and squeeze the trigger.

"Thanks. You guys really need to get home now."

I suppose s-

FOOMP!

Why you little-

"THE BRIDGE!" Everyone yelled.

FLUP!

SC-RACK!

Cold. Very cold. _Very_ cold. HELP!

About five minutes later I was on my knees, next to a fire and wrapped in a blanket. 

"Lesson number one, Jekkal: Do _not_ try to cross the bridge. Period."


	9. The Guardians

****

Part one

Chapter 1

My name is Tobias.

I don't know what's going on now. It seems like I can't expect anything to be right. That I'm sleeping in a good tree. That Haven's only an hour away. That is, If Haven still exists. 

It started when we were walking through the construction site where we met Elfangor for the first time.

And the last. After he gave us the morphing power, Visser Three, the only Andalite-controller, came and killed him. We've been fighting the Visser since then, and I always felt like I was doing it for Elfangor. Taking his place. Finishing what he began. 

You have no clue how right that last sentence was. About six months later, I had this dream. I guess it was from that first night, when I got information from him. It finally made sense. Found out he was my dad. Since, I've gotten an Andalite morph, and even adopted an Andalite name. 

Yeah, I know Tobias-Sirinal-Xertos sounds a little weird at first, but I've gotten used to it. Besides, Jekkal says Xertos means 'on wisps of wings.' It's usually meant to mean a dreamer, but I think it still fits. 

So anyway, that's me. Now the others. Jake is basically our fearless leader, Rachel is..., well, she's cute, but she's also the first one to go into a fight. Marco isn't exactly one of my favorites, but he's definitely come in handy. Cassie is the sensitive one, and our main outlet into morphs. Ax, our Cinnabon-chomping _aristh_, and probably one of our best sources. Jekkal is an Andalite doctor, and a lady warrior, so she knows how to handle herself. Rae is a fighter pilot, so he hasn't been one of the biggest helps. Alli was just freed from the Visser by Cassandra, so we don't know how he acts (except me- I have access to dad's memories) but we expect for him to have information on the Yeerks. Casten... well, I never really learned much about him. 

Anyway, being a hawk isn't as bad as you think. No bullies (except for golden eagles), no need for admission price if I want to see a baseball game, the best eyesight in the world, and my wings. I mean, how many kids get the chance to fly?

Well, flying was how it started. I was up in the air, checking out the ground like I usually do. See, while the others are at school and the Andalites are doing their things, my job is to find new entrances to the Yeerk pool. That way we can get a feel for how big it is, and how to tell which people are controllers. We used to get our way in from there, but now we can't. 

This time, the problem wasn't on the ground. 

Chapter 2

I focused on the sky, but I didn't see...no, wait,... there was a ripple in the air. I would've thought it was a bug fighter, but too small and maneuverable. And there were lots of them. 

Dust started to appear, and it showed what looked like Semites playing, They were sort of like Cassandra, with the one color, but they were different. There was a red one, a blue one, orange, green, yellow, purple, black.

The red and blue were winged, orange and yellow had arms, green and purple had legs, but the black one had a body I hadn't seen before. He had legs, but the arms - or at least the forearms - stuck out of the wings. He couldn't really use his arms too well to play, or he'd fall like a stone. 

A pack of Semites, playing around in the air like they were dolphins. 

What are you doing?!? They ignored me, chasing each other by the tail. Get out of the sky! Everyone can see you!They dove down.Okay, That'll d-

Cassie!

Get away from her! Veer off! She's not prey!

I chased the last one down, hoping maybe I could distract them. 

"Tobias! what are y-"

WHAM!

I hopped up, dazed. Sorry.

"Why'd you go and ram me like that?"

Okay, there was this group of Semites diving in on you and-

"I haven't seen a Semite in days. And always in Haven."

Fine. I hope the Center takes insane birds, then. 

I flew back into the forest, hoping maybe I could forget my troubles in the form of a plump rabbit. A golden eagle was flying overhead, which took some of the fun out. 

Oh, no.

Tobias, I told you I swore off birds, remember?

Nothing against you getting some crows or jays with me. Phew. It was only Alex.

Alex was this bird that could use thought-speak. That was useful when the Semites kept a global net around the world. Now all he did that was special was talk, since the Semites decided to stay here. At least he doesn't take a shot at me.

Um, Alex? You know a lot about Semite culture, right?

I oughta. Why? 

Well, I saw seven Semites flying around. They were like Cassandra, but in different colo-

WHAT?!

I say something dirty?

No, no, but... Oh man, I hope I'm right on this!

What?

If you weren't lying, there's a ruckus over an egg in Haven!

**Chapter 3**

What's this about an egg in Haven?

You saw Guardians. They only show up if there's something so bad that we need their help, or if we just need protection. Seeing as we haven't spotted any English Dragons around, it's gotta be an egg.

You didn't understand my question: What's with the egg?

Well, they don't consider it a big deal if just any egg was about to hatch, but Cassandra's... I think at that moment my jaw was going to drop to the ground and go five miles further. If it could.

I made a nosedive into Haven, then flared. Everyone was concentrated in about a five-yard radius, mainly because Cassandra took up a lot of the room. 

She needed to. 

Who's in there?

I wouldn't be able to tell right away, but I think the temperature's about male.

Congratulations, It's a prince!

"You think so?" She cocked her head up to me. She also moved away a wing, revealing the quivering sack. 

Wow. So, who's the dad? Almost as I said it, a legged Semite, blue and yellow, showed up.

"He is."She spoke, pointing a finger at the newcomer. Five merlins flew thorugh the gaping hole at the roof, a giltter with some of last week's leftover snow. 

Tobias? Are you sure you're all ri-... Oh my. Jekkal said, with a wavering tone in her thoughts. I didn't even think she was old enough.

"Show's how much you know about Semites."

We decided to stay for a few minutes, then head back to tell the news to the others. But before I left, one thought stuck back out at me. Cassandra, do you know anything about some Semites called Guardians?

She fainted. Right then and there.

Chapter 4

Wake up! Wake up!

"S-sorry. It's just that I never thought anyone... and certainly not a hawk... Would ask me that question."

Well, what's with the Guardians?

"They're my father Dione's siblings. You see, when the royalty was first established among Islanders, there were eight in the litter. Not uncommon among Semites at the time to have so many at once. They all had the single color mark, one for each color of the spectrum, black, and white. They were all unique for this, but the black one, Seramea, was the first... or I guess only... Demont, for his arms in his wings. 

The others all took one aspect or the other that was normal. Dione was a pack, or as you put it, winged, Semite. And you obiously saw what the others were." I nodded, and she continued with the story.

"They were considered above the others and would rule when they all turned fifteen. Unfortunately, some terrorists never let it happen."

What did?

She seemed to choke on the last words, yet they came out smoothly. "They murdered them. All except for my father, who only by a stroke of fate was saved. He claimed that Seramea helped him hide in a cave, then died. The smell of rotting flesh made the plotters discard the thought that he was still there. After they found out what had happened, Dione was made the first king. I have long since taken his role."

So? This is what, ten, twenty years ago?

She sneered at me. "Two hundred, for your information! It's been a delicate topic since the incedent, and I'll have you know it's no little matter." I backed off instinctively. Cassandra never sneered at anybody, no matter how much they ticked her off. Not even Visser Three. 

Don't worry about it. Everyone gets cranky guarding an egg. Alex comforted. I almost forgot he was still there. 

Thanks. I flew off to grab lunch. It was more difficult, since the winter drew most rodents to hiding, but the leafless trees helped me. 

I tried to get an early nap. It was totally the wrong time of day, but I needed a retreat to hide from the snow. I also had plans tonight. 

I morphed to human, pulled out the small bag of clothes I always kept in the forest, and headed out towards Rachel's house. 

_No big deal,_ I thought, _Just go to ring the year in._

VEEEROOOO! VEEEOOOOOO!

"Stop!" I jerked my hed around to find a police wagon right behind me. 

"Son, you're under arrest."

"For jaywalking? I thought you guys only gave tickets for that." I knew the routines- seen them from the sky long enough.

"No. According to this report, you were involved in a smuggling ring with illegal aliens, and if you're who I think you are, not having a legal guardian."

I was pushed into the back. The other Animorphs were there. I couldn't do anything. Not here. 

KLANGG! Click. 

"Jake, what the heck is going on?" I hissed. For all I knew, they were taping this. 

"I don't know about what's going on, but when my mom hears about this, she is gonna sue the pants off them for false arrest." Rachel said. her mom's a lawyer. 

"No Miranda rights... I doubt it'll get that far."

"You're right, Bandit. This won't hit the police records. In fact, this arrest never even happened as far as your lives are concerned."

"Bandit? You were calling us smugglers earlier."

"Both, then." He sneered. "It's illegal to keep Andalites."

Chapter 5

I watched helplessly, barred by the harness, as the second policeman stared in delight at us. "Which one is Jekkal? I've been wanting my revenge and host."

We kept silent. As long as we didn't act different than we usually acted around the Visser, he wouldn't think of us being humans. 

"Come, come now. I know you're humans. You think I didn't steal the blue box just to use the morphing power? I remember that Andalites keep their _Hirac Delest_ in there. Every memory your father ever had, Tobias, was in there. And now it's finally paid off. I'm keeping that promise I made. I belive you remember, about the infestation?" A chill went through my spine. No, he couldn't have found it. No, he coundn't have known. No. No. NO!

"It will be more difficult finding your comrade Aximili from your memories. But when I do, I'll practically be on the Council of Thirteen. I'll find where you've hidden all those escapees. And don't think the others are okay. I've seen Jekkal here. She has to be one of you. How many others? If you tell me now, I may only take one bandit." 

"You're not going to get away with this." Jake leered.

"An empty threat, Jake. I already have. In fact, I seem to remember your brother Tom identified you at the last meeting. The arrangmets have been set. After this ride, we'll be in the Yeerk pool. My lieutenents are waiting." He turned his head toward me. "Or at least five of them are. Because of you, my best laid plans have been ruined countless times. Another Andalite host? Alloran is too old to be of much help. I know Aximili is an idiot with his tail blade. And I would get much more satisfaction from you than any of the others."

"Don't bet on it." As the words spewed out, my beak came in alarmingly. I switched over to thought speak. You'll never get that filthy slug body in me. Never!

"I don't think so. The pool's been at top security for three days already. There's no way you can escape. And I want a morphing body back. Thanks to your friend Jekkal, we had to leave our old ones, since they were too young to be any good."

I was demorphing at top speed. Unfortunately, the harness shrunk with me. 

"Not a good idea. Those primitive restraints were made with ramonite. I can make them adjust to whatever body is in there." he shut the little door on us. 

"Now what? We obviously can't get out, and I don't think Visser One is going to get us out of _this_ mess." Marco complained.

We have to!

"Tobias's right. We need to find some way to get out before we end up on the pier." Jake noted.

Besides that. He was talking about those Hork-Bajir we helped, and Haven. We can't let him find those places. Especially not now.

"How come?" 

I sighed. Not really, of course. Birds can't sigh. Cassandra's got an egg. Even if we gave them fair warning, She couldn't leave. And I'm really the only one who knows where the valley is for the Hork-Bajir. I sent out a new call. Jekkal! Rae! Tashe! Alli! Ax!

What?

Ax, do you remeber where the valley is?

Where Jara and Ket are located? I think so.

Go and get them outta there!

Why? The Yeerks think they're dead.

Ax, listen. We were captured. When the Yeerks do find out... go warn them! Send Alli to Haven. The rest try and follow the police wagon, so there might be a chance.

That's suicide! Tashe said. You can't be serious!

It's too late. They know we're human.

****

Chapter 6

"Just a few more minutes." The Visser announced. 

Okay, we're in fly morph, and hanging on to the vehicle's back. We'll demorph in the dropshaft, assuming there is enough clearance to do so. Jekkal stated. 

Bump-pah! Bump-pah!

"Okay, that must be the dropshaft." Jake said. "Everything all right?"

Jake wants to know if you guys are still there.

Yes. Proceeding to demorph... No!

What?!

We were outside of the drop shaft! Lousy fly eyes.

"Awww, man."

Try to get into battle morphs in here. Maybe there's enough room.

"No good. We'd still fit inside the harness, which means we couldn't do any good. and when we morphed back to human, they'd have us." Marco explained. 

"You just going to give up ?" Jake said in that low, silky voice he uses when he gets mad.

"No, I want out of here as much as Birdboy does. And he definitely wants out."

I'll vouch for that.

I started to morph back into human. There were advantages and disadvantages to each body. As a hawk, I could read a book a thousand yards away. As a human, Id be able to hold that book and have something tasty, but not see stuff that's far away. I wanted to see if I could undo the straps. 

"Where's the buckle?" I asked, quivering.

"I never thought there was one." Cassie answered.

CHA-KLANG!

A Hork-bajir stood guard as the Semite yanked me out of the car. The buckles broke away. 

"Let go of me!"

"Famous last words, Tobias."

Chapter 7

I tried to run, but the Semite-controller held me in place as Visser Three shuffled over. 

"NO!" Too late! The Visser was right next to me to and already making the transfer. 

I was losing myself. Losing myself over to a slug. I kept screaming _No, no,_ but I couldn't stop the onslaught. He was forcing himself into me, taking my body. My mind. 

I almost got this flash of myself, having done the same thing about two months ago. 

"Well, _this_ should speed up infestation." I recognized the words. I reconigzed the voice. They were mine. But they weren't. 

It was the Visser's. I was just a little fragment of my own brain, paralyzed from the world. 

Heh, heh, heh. My, you certainly are quite an interesting host. And such information! Almost reminds me of Alloran. Except much simpler, yet more complex.

This isn't over yet. I'll still win. And you'll be no more than another dead pieice of filth.

Really? You think your pitiful band of _Animorphs_ can stop me? Your Andalite friends? Never. You're too valuable to both sides. How would you put it? Oh, yes. Checkmate.

I held still for a few seconds. I needed to try and figure out what made him tick. what weakness still laid within him. 

You'll find nothing. No weakness except for my morphing. And we both know _that_ doesn't matter. Within the hour my little array of lower Vissers will be enjoying your friends. In fact, I think that's Visser Twenty-Four getting ready to unload now.

I saw Tavi-Lek, or at least I think it was Tavi-Lek, being led to the pier. His wrists were shackled and he was being led by a chain. What's with the-

Restraints after unloading. The little upstart is quite an ordeal without them. Might even escape, if they weren't there. The Visser doesn't like having to do that, of course. But he only wears them for a few minutes.

I saw the scene. It was fairly calm, that is, until Visser Twenty-Four was out. 

"HAAAARRRRRIAHHHH!" Tavi-Lek lashed out, trying to escape through the cavetop. But the leash held him down. He flared, trying to melt the chain, but it didn't even glow. He kept pulling up, until two more Hork-Bajir bought him down and threw him into a seperate cage. Tavi-Lek kept trying to melt the cage, but it never wavered. 

"Get the next host ready." I - he - waved my hand dismissivly to the Semite who held me earlier, ready and quite anxious to grab one of the others. 

The Visser chose that moment to demorph. It was weirder than usual. Because I wasn't the one doing it. I watched from far away, my arms flatten out into wings. My legs grew thin and my toes were melding into talons again. 

When "I" was back to red-tail, I could clearly see who was now being dragged out to the infesting pier. 

RACHEL!

Oh, this is good. This is _very _good.

You, you ....! At that moment I was almost glad the others couldn't hear me, because I was using words that aren't exactly nice.

I tried to look away. I wasn't about to see what they were doing. Unfortunately, I couldn't control whether or not I saw, because Visser Three chose to. And he was not through taunting. 

No! Please!

What? The brave little Birdboy can't stand an infestation? He morphed again, this time into Andalite. He preferred his old body back. Even if it was just a morph, he preferred it. Ah.

I peered through again, this time seeing a perfectly calm Rachel. Except it wasn't Rachel anymore.

Now, the leader.

Chapter 8

I kept trying to break free of the Visser as my friends were infested one-by-one, but I always lost. Now they were all doomed to the same fate I had. I didn't catch all of the other's names so I'll-

For your information, Visser Twenty-Four is in Marco, Thirteen is in Jake, Seven has Cassie, and Nineteen controls Rachel.

Whatever. A Yeerk is a Yeerk.

Maybe so. But I'm the Yeerk inside _you_. I'm the Yeerk inside one of the most wanted soldiers in the galaxy. And I'm the only Yeerk with a tail blade again. For now.

I saw this sequence, It was clear, yet had a few details left out. He saw himself, in hawk morph, watching in delight as he saw the infestation on the mother ship for other Vissers. His little squadron wasn't about to give up my friends yet. 

Talk about an ego.

And why not? When you're as powerful as I am, in the Yeerk Empire, there's no reason why I can't. 

Don't bet on it, Visser.

"Visser Thr-... I mean Tobias?" Visser Thirteen said. "We need to go topside soon. Someone might get suspicious if we stay away long."

Agreed. The Visser morphed my body into human, and put back on the clothes I lost with morphing. 

"That should be the theatre exit, if I'm not mistaken." Visser Nineteen pointed out. Then she spasmed. "Get out of me!"

Yesss!

Don't celebrate yet. Simple host rebellion. We'll be able to calm her down soon enough.

Her? I struck! 

I had gained control! I 'd run up the staircase, reach Ax, have him and the others hold me for three days, and get this filthy slug o- 

Ahhhh!

Hah. Haha and also ha. No one has ever defeated a Yeerk. Not from the inside, anyway.

You'll never win, just the same.

Oh? Alloran thought so, too. But I beat him down. 

And he escaped.

Yes, but your morphs are too good. Even if the thief could steal you away too, not only would I have an excellent body left, but you'd also be trapped again. As a hawk.

I've been one for over half a year, any more time won't make a difference.

"It doesn't matter."The Visser sneered as he boarded the dropshaft. "It won't ever matter again."

To be continued...


End file.
